Dragon's Dreams
by fragonknight01
Summary: AU, SLASH, Challenge fic...Harry is the savoir, just not Dumbledore's man. And, he is under a curse cast by McGonagall. Can he save the Wizarding world with the help of his friends and long lost family?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimers: I do not own any part of the Harry Potter universe and no money is being made from this story.

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This story diverges from the Harry Potter universe from Christmas the year Harry is eight all the way through year five. Book Six and Book Seven are not mentioned here because I do not like either book. Spoilers from the first five books will move the story along until only the characters remain the same sex. To fit the criteria of the challenge it will also be SLASH. If you don't like, please don't read and then complain. As usual, I do not write canon well and do not care enough to try. Also consider the fact that there are a few million HP stories out there and that means several ideas have already been done in other stories. However, there will be a few items which I think are my original work, but since I usually only read FF and AFF I could be mistaken. Having said that; here is the first chapter.

Included in this story which is being written as a NaNo 08 entry is a challenge I found on fan fiction. The challenge is listed under story id 4569954:

Harry Potter  
Rating: M  
Genre: Romance  
Pairing: Harry/Salazar S.  
Summary: A witch from the past, has put a curse on Harry saying 'He will be a beast by morning and a human by night.' Since then, Harry has been changing to a black dragon as soon as the sun raises and changes back to a human when it sets. What would happen if one of the four founders captured him in his dragon form?  
Conditions:  
Harry has a slight feminine build.  
Salazar does think Harry is actually human until he sees him change one night.  
Anything else you want to add, then go ahead.

Harry Potter was not an ordinary child by any circumstances. He was not the freak that his aunt and uncle insisted that he was, but he was just a bit more extraordinary than your average child. The reason he was different was because he was a wizard.

He came by it honestly; both of his parents were magical. His mother was a witch and his father was a wizard. Actually, on his father's side of the family he was what one considered a Pureblood; meaning that he came from a very long line of wizards and witches. His mother's side of the family insisted that they were muggles which meant that they were non-magical folks. That meant that his mother was referred to as a mudblood, or a first generation witch.

However it was that Harry came into his power; it was a great deal of power. Before he was even born there had been a prophecy made and witnessed that set his life on its present course. There had been other people involved in the course also; a spy who went straight to the bad guy and reported what he had heard; there was a bad guy posing as the Potter's friend; there was the really bad guy who plotted to kill the baby as soon as he had been identified; and there was the master manipulator who had orchestrated the whole comedy of errors.

And so Harry James Potter became an orphan at the age of fifteen months because his parent's friends had betrayed him to the really bad guy. Severus Snape, spy and friend of Lily, had taken the news of the Prophecy to Voldemort, the really bad guy, who with help from Peter Pettigrew, James's supposed friend, and Albus Dumbledore, supposed leader of the Light, managed to kill the elder Potters. Voldemort would have killed baby Harry also, but the power he knew not was somehow invoked and the boy managed to survive while the bad wizard was temporarily defeated.

Harry knew he was different from the time he could understand his relatives. He knew that his real name was not Freak or Boy, not just because those names were stupid, but because he noticed fairly quickly that his aunt and uncle behaved differently when they had him out in public as opposed to when he was at home. They were not particularly nice even in public, but they managed to switch the generic nouns from freak, pathetic excuse etc... to Boy which was said much the same way one refers to their pastor on Sundays when he reminds you of your monetary obligations to the church.

Eventually he noticed that whenever he was stressed out or angry strange things tended to happen. Since he was a very bright boy he figured out that the reason they called him a freak was because he was different from them. He could do things that they could not. Having a few pet spiders might have actually qualified him for the 'freak', but no one knew about them...

At the age of seven Harry began keeping a secret journal of odd things that happened around him when he was truly upset. The journal didn't really fill up quickly because some of the things he did he did not recognize as magic. There were some instances that made their way into the book.

Some of the 'magic' that made him different and caused his relatives to be vexed with him included regrowing his hair so that it would not look horrible the next day at school (by his standards, not theirs) after Aunt Petunia gave him a really bad haircut. There was the time he had accidentally turned a teacher's wig blue, he had apparated to the roof of the school to get away from his horrible cousin and his miserable gang of bullies.

And there were lots of secrets that the family did not know about. They sometimes saw strange people bowing to Harry in the streets of London when they were forced to take him with them, but they did not notice that there were also strange animals that often found their way to him. Had they bothered to really look they would have absolutely died of embarrassment to know their house was the least normal house on the block and was infested with a dozen different types of magical creatures... For example the yard always bloomed so beautifully because unicorns like flowers, and the house was always immaculate because of the hobgoblin. Well, you get the point, right?

Harry was probably eight when he first learned about the magical world. It was just prior to Christmas and he had been sent up to the attic to vacuum it and rearrange the boxes so that after Boxing Day Dudley's toys could be stored properly. Harry had found the trunks with the initials JP and LE on them. He had known right away that the trunks belonged to his parents. At the time he did not wonder how they got there, he was just happy to have found something that belonged to his parents.

It was only after moving the trunks over to where there was a small window that he realized that Aunt Petunia did not know the trunks were there and presumably could not see them. It was pretty safe to assume that since she did not know that the trunks were there, that she did not know someone had been in her house and had stored them there.

He opened his mother's trunk first and spent most of the Christmas holidays up in the attic sorting through the trunk and learning about magic. Being the smart boy he was it had not taken long for him to access the 'calling' spells and get the attic sparkling like the rest of the house. With that done, he had all the time in the world to play in his new toy chests. The calling spell which he activated filled out a form at the Ministry of Magic's Office of Employment for Magical Creatures. It gave the specifics for the job and suitable candidates were matched to the position. In Harry's case a hobgoblin had been employed because he fit the 'needs' description better than a house elf would have.

Playing in the trunks was an incredibly enlightening experience. He learned all sorts of interesting bits of information. He learned that he was supposed to be living with a boy named Neville Longbottom, not at the Dursley house; he was supposed to be learning things like how to manage his estate; French, Latin, Greek, Mathematics, the Physical Sciences, Social Sciences and English. He had a difficult time at first with not understanding some of the words he was reading, but some of that was soon fixed when he stole one of Petunia's dictionaries.

His mother had also drawn up a list of subjects that he was to do light research into. Developing into a classically trained gentleman seemed to be of some great importance to the parents.

Harry realized immediately that he would never be able to catch up on the schedule his mother had set for him by himself. He would need to find a tutor who could direct him. With that in mind he picked up the letter his mother had written and after reading it through, and while not understanding half of it, he still resolved to send it off.

After discussing the letter with the hobgoblin that now resided in the back left corner of the attic, with the letter in his pocket he descended the stairs and went into the kitchen to see what he could find to eat while no one was around. He noticed the list of chores that Petunia had left for him and decided to practice the household charms while he prepared an omelet with just a touch of sausage, a small nip of parsley, a sprinkle of cheese, and a bite of tomato he found left on a plate.

The hobgoblin, whom Harry referred to as Broom, coached him through the cleaning charms he would need to use then left him to work as the creature popped away to visit with his family for a few hours. It had been fun to follow along behind his new helper and learn to cast a **scourgify** on the dishes then point his finger and watch them float up to their respective spots in the cabinet. The dusting, vacuuming, and laundry folding also went without hitch and he found himself with almost two hours before the Dursleys and Marge would be returning home. He had time to post the letter!

He grabbed the heaviest shirt that he owned and pulled it on over his other two shirts before setting foot out the back door, intending to go the long way around to a post box so that the neighbors would not see him and rat him out to his relatives. He found it annoying already that the neighbors believed Petunia when she said he was a trouble maker. He was not the neighborhood bully and resented her lies.

It was therefore a bit surprising to find an owl waiting on the railing that Vernon had put up around the patio to form a bit of a privacy area where he and Petty could sit and watch Dudley tear up the garden with his big wheel. Harry was entranced with the beautiful bird and immediately went to it and began stroking it and complimenting it on being such a beautiful, smart bird.

For some strange reason the beautiful Gringotts owl decided that Harry was quite a suitable pet and determined to help the boy along. It did not take the owl long at all to let the boy know that he was there to take the letter away that was stashed in his coat pocket.

Harry looked at the owl bemusedly as it stuck its head into his pocket and removed the letter. Then with letter still in his beak, he extended his leg while bobbing his head up and down at it a few times.

Harry soon saw the small string that the bird was indicating and realized that it wanted him to tie the letter to its leg. He soon had it rolled up and tied comfortably to the bird for carrying.

It hooted happily to him and took off.

Harry watched the owl disappear and wondered if he had done the correct thing by letting it have the letter. After all, that was a letter that his mother had written to a man named Mr. Axebiter. He just hoped that Mr. Axebiter could help him with all the problems that living with the Dursleys seemed to cause him. Harry really did want to make his parents proud of him, and he knew that one way to do that was to make sure that he followed his mother's educational plan for him. According to her, he was going to need to know how to do a lot of stuff. If it that was true, then he would really need to get busy.

He did not actually have long to fret about things. He went back inside and had just made his way up the stairs to what he was rapidly coming to think of as his room when he heard a small popping noise in the attic close to where he had left the trunk open. Knowing he was supposed to be the only one in the house, he rushed up the steps to make sure nothing was wrong with either his precious possessions, or the hobgoblin's meager stash. He was quite shocked to see an ugly little creature that closely resembled the funny little goblins in the movie Labyrinth that Petunia had purchased for Dudley last week.

It turned out that goblins ARE real. They controlled the magical world's banking business. It would also appear that they are quite whimsical creatures and enjoy a good challenge. Once Harry explained to the goblin what he had done to accidentally call him there, there was no stopping the goblin.

The original recipient of Mrs. Potter's letter had been a goblin named Axebiter. Axebiter's instructions were to help her by presenting a shortlist of teaching candidates. He did not actually misinterpret the letter; he simply did not think that Lily would necessarily want to limit her son's education to the Wizarding world. Therefore after he interpreted the wish magic overlaying the original letter, he knew exactly who to send.

Harry James Potter had used wish magic to help Axebiter find the most capable teacher available in order to begin fulfilling his parents' plan for his education. The goblin that fit the requirements, Bookgrabber, was a middle-aged goblin who had recently been medically retired from the bank's elite guard and had not yet decided on what to do next since he was several years away from passing on to the next plane of existence. One minute he was sitting comfortably at dinner with his parents, the next moment he found himself in a room that was so strangely clean that he felt he might have inadvertently been summoned by one of his generic cousins known as a hobgoblin.

In reality what had happened was Axebiter had activated Harry's overlay spell by reading the letter and then saying, "Now, who do I know that can actually do this job?" That was all it took for magic to do the rest.

For such a little wizard to be powerful enough to call him through several layers of warding at both residences without actually using his name seemed to be some type of compliment that would bestow great honor on him if he performed his duties properly.

Once Harry and Bookgrabber had established exactly why he had shown up, they had introduced themselves. Harry then showed him the educational plan and they got down to business. Bookgrabber magically copied the file created by Lily and told Harry that he would take it to Harry's Gringotts manager. They would then arrange for him to visit his vaults with them where they would remove books, weapons, and other items as needed to work their way through everything.

Harry had been so excited that someone would really help him that he squealed ecstatically and hugged the goblin before it could get away. "Oh, thank you, Mr. Bookgrabber. I am so happy that you came to visit."

The goblin just shook his head at the boy's antics and gave him a bit of a hug in return. Some goblins would see that as a breach of etiquette, but Harry really had summoned the one teacher who would be perfect for him. Bookgrabber was from a large family and although he had chosen to live at home and help his parents raise the younger children, he had recently become rather broody about having his own heir. This child would help immensely in showing him the next direction he needed to move in.

Harry would never tell his Aunt Petunia about the goblin who visited him several times a week and instructed him in the ways of magic. Bookgrabber had become a large part of Harry's life in a very short time. The two of them got on like a house on fire and Bookgrabber often finished Harry's chores with magic that Broom could not finish so that they would have time to get in a few extra lessons of whatever caught their interest.

It was an arrangement that worked wonderfully from the day it was set up until the day Harry had to go off to Hogwarts. Harry was still a few months behind the projected learning curve that Lily had set for him had he started studying when he was supposed to, but he had made great strides in all the subjects.

* * *

It had been fun for Harry to pretend he did not know what was happening when the first Hogwarts letter arrived. Predictably, Uncle Vernon had confiscated the letter, and then he and Aunt Petunia had begun to act even more strangely than they already were.

Harry had genuinely enjoyed the trip out to the little island. While everyone else had huddled inside, He and Bookgrabber had explored the coastline and the goblin had managed to help him with some of his physical science by showing and lecturing on time-and-tide and how it related to the magical rhythms of his own core.

They had even managed to catch some fish which Bookgrabber and he promptly cooked over a nice fire made from driftwood. Harry had not really wanted to gut and debone a fish at first, but Bookgrabber turned it into another lesson; this time covering the anatomy of a cod fish. He also learned how important it was for the goblins to eat small portions of ocean produced foodstuffs.

It had been a long interesting afternoon for both of them, but like all good things, it had to end. Bookgrabber returned to his modest abode in one of the tunnels under Gringotts with a sack full of delicacies while Harry had to enter the hut where he knew things would come to a head between him being in the muggle world and belonging in the Wizarding one.

It took all of Harry's courage to come out of the corner he was hiding in and speak to the huge man who had been sent to deliver his Hogwarts letter. Being scared out of his wits made it easier to stutter and stumble over words when he protested being anything except 'just Harry'. He thought that he might have overdone it when he glared at Petunia and accused her of lying about how his parents had died.

Petunia's rant regarding Lily being a witch reinforced his belief that he was doing the correct thing by leaning as much as he could with the help of his true friends. It actually reinforced what he had been told by the goblins; they had explained that there was a conspiracy going on regarding him living with these people. The goblins did not have enough information to put everything together, but they had done as much as they could by educating him and introducing him to the people whom Lily and James had wanted him to grow up knowing.

The huge man finally introduced himself to Harry as Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid was the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. The man was a fountain of knowledge and with a few well directed questions and a few subtle goblin compulsion charms Harry was learning all manner of useful things regarding the Wizarding world and its prejudices.

Hagrid, after proclaiming Harry a 'thumping good wizard', completely underestimated Harry. He never remembered speaking freely regarding Hogwarts house prejudices, the real reason behind sending him to deliver Harry's letter instead of one of the regular teachers, and all manner of secrets.

Harry had no trouble casting a small sleeping suggestion at his relatives so they all wandered off to sleep where they could not witness Harry's blatant manipulation of the half-giant. He spoke long into the night regarding things that he knew to be true, but was never meant to be said to the young boy.

Hours later as the sun rose, Hagrid stood up and stretched. "Blimey, Harry, that couch is too small and uncomfortable to catch a kip on. We should have left here ages ago."

Harry looked up through big sleepy green eyes. "What do you mean 'we should have gone ages ago?"

Hagrid straightened his beard back off his face. "Well we should have gone to Diagon Alley last night and slept at the Leaky Cauldron. I can't imagine why we stayed here."

He patted his pockets down and soon had a pleased look on his face. "Ah, here it is." He pulled a slightly battered owl out of a pocket and said, "I will just go ahead and send a letter to Dumbledore to say that I found you finally and will take you to get your school supplies this morning."

"How are we going away from here?"

"Dumbledore gave me a portkey to get us to Diagon Alley. Now go get your things."

"I don't have any things to get ready."

"Then come over here and stand quietly while I find that blasted portkey. I know I stuck in my pocket." He proceeded to thump at his coat until a fine layer of dust had dislodged from it and was now gracing the floor. Finally he quit thumping and said, "Ah, here we are. I knew I didn't lose it." He looked at Harry who had not moved the whole time he was 'checking' his pockets. "Are you ready then? Put your hand on this here sock and we will soon get the shopping done."

Harry nodded at the man then added, "Hagrid, I haven't got any money. How am I supposed to pay for my school supplies?"

Hagrid just shook his head. "Hurry up and get over here so we can be on our way." He looked around and shook his head. "This place really does not look like the kind of place your aunt would want to live. Why did they come out here?"

Harry saw his Aunt Petunia standing at the bottom of the steps and decided to spare her some shame. "I think Uncle Vernon's boss sent him out here. Sometimes he lets us come with him. It would have been a really fun vacation for Dudley and me if it had not started raining last night."

Hagrid looked around with a little better appreciation. "OH, I can see that part. I just did not think women folks liked this sort of thing."

Harry shook his head. "Hagrid, women don't usually like this sort of thing. Why do you think Aunt Petunia was in such a bad mood?"

Hagrid finally noticed Petunia, but disregarded Harry's peacemaking attempts since he liked living dangerously. "I reckon 'cause she is a shrew."

The resulting shriek and thump as she threw a piece of wood at his head had the two males portkeying away before she got in enough practice to correct her aim at his head.

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A/N: Thus ends chapter 1. Please gift wrap all complaints and send them to a different cyber address since most of these ideas are not original. Compliments and words of wisdom on how to improve things (in a positive manner, please) are gratefully accepted and may be sent to this address.


	2. Starting at Hogwarts

Disclaimers: Please and thank you for referring to chapter 1.

Sources of inspiration include, but are not limited to: Harry Potter Series, Book Dragon, **Labyrinth; the Movie**, **Faeries**, the movie, and any number of other fanfiction authors. If you recognize something as yours please let me know and if I agree with your claim I will list you also.

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The portkey dropped the two of them in a quiet alley on the muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron. Harry immediately began to look around to see where he was. He was sensitive enough with magic after roughly two and a half years that he could detect it in high concentrations. Bookgrabber encouraged him in developing the skill because he said it would come in handy later on when he finally started thinking about what career he wanted to take up.

Within seconds he knew exactly where he was. Now if he could just ditch the half-giant, he would be able to get help from his goblin friends and the whole trip would not be wasted. Hagrid had flung open the door to the **Leaky Cauldron** in such a manner that almost everyone in the room turned and stared at him. While their eyes were fixed on him, Harry darted through the crowd and was out the back door. Several minutes later, Tom felt it was in the best interests of the boy whom Hagrid was supposed to be escorting, that he be reminded that he was supposed to be on official business.

Hagrid thanked Tom for reminding him that he needed to be moving along. With that in mind, he turned around and checked the area. Not seeing Harry anywhere, he turned back to Tom. "Did you see a little boy come in behind me?"

The old bartender pointed toward the alley. "Little one went that way right quick when all them folks were staring at you for making such an entrance."

Hagrid shook his head. "I shouldna' done that. Dumbledore is going to be upset that I messed up."

Tom shook his head. "Stop dallying and go find the boy. He is in the alley somewhere. If he is a muggle born he will not have gone far. Most likely he is still waiting out beside the bricks."

Hagrid was distracted from looking for Harry the minute he stepped foot into the alley. Professor Flitwick, Head of House for Ravenclaw and the Charms Professor, had been doing some banking when he was recruited by the goblins at Gringotts to distract Hagrid while Harry got some business done in the alley without anyone knowing what his real agenda was. Flitwick hit the half giant with a confundus charm then returned to Gringotts to help Harry while Hagrid spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the alley taking care of chores that he would normally do just before school opened for a new year.

Thanks to Flitwick's assistance, Bookgrabber and Axebiter were able to let Harry investigate his vaults and get a good look at the alley without Albus Dumbledore interfering with the outing since he assumed it would be controlled by Hagrid. Harry even got to see the Goblin King who dropped in unannounced to check on 'something' with Axebiter. Everyone was quite pleased when Harry remembered his manners and bowed to the King properly.

Jareth, King of the Goblins, smiled at Harry and asked, "When do you start Hogwarts, young Potter?"

Harry chatted with him a few minutes before he remembered his manners and excused himself from the King's presence.

Jareth nodded to Axebiter as the boy was escorted out. "He'll do. You have done the Goblin nation proud."

Axebiter was ecstatic but no emotion showed. "Thank you, Your Majesty. Though, most of the credit for how young Potter has turned out goes to Bookgrabber."

Jareth nodded. "And he shall be rewarded also." As they watched the boy walking along behind Professor Flitwick Jareth added, "Today is his birthday. I think that a special gift for a special boy would be in order."

Axebiter agreed, "There is a new clutch of Pigmy Welsh Greens hatched out just a month ago."

Jareth's mismatched eyes lit with pleasure. "Excellent! See that he gets one and then have a search made of all the new Hogwarts enrollees. The clutches almost always pick children who are close together."

Harry had a wonderful time making his way around the alley. Flitwick proved to be an engaging companion and kept him entertained. The little part goblin had a way of making anything fun and fascinating, and Harry soaked up everything the professor had to say on any subject.

Flitwick also kept Harry well protected. He charmed him to have brown hair and pale green eyes so no one would recognize him and then proceeded to call him Myrridon instead of Harry. It amused both of them greatly that there were so many similarities between him and the real Merlin.

As they made their way through the alley Flitwick stopped frequently and pointed out specialty shops that carried various and sundry items. They stopped at Madame Malkin's Robe shop, and while there they met a boy named Draco Malfoy.

Harry had taken Draco's hand and shook it while whispering that he was actually in disguise and was not free to speak his real name at that point. The little blond boy nodded his head in understanding. They agreed that they would introduce themselves again when they got to school.

Flitwick shook his head at the antics of the boys. Being covert seemed to be one of those things wizards thrived on. He just hoped that when the boys were reintroduced formally they would remain friends since Draco and Harry were cousins of sorts.

After Harry acquired his robes, he visited the rest of the shops on his list in quick succession. While he was in Ollivander's Fine Wand Shop, Flitwick disappeared down the street to Gringotts for a second time and came back with a Pigmy Welsh Green dragon in a little gold filigree cage. He stood smiling outside the shop and holding it up for inspection as Harry came out the door and caught sight of him.

The Goblins had sent a birthday present to their favorite wizard. It was a singular honor that had not been bestowed on a human in over three hundred years. Best of all, Dumbledore would not be able to complain about the dragon not being an approved pet because there were precisely six mentions of students being gifted with the small dragons by the goblins just before these students were to start Hogwarts.

Salazar Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff had pigmy Welsh Greens and both of them spoke highly of their magical companions. Receiving the dragons was more than a blessing by the goblin nation on the most powerful wizard in existence, the little dragons were capable of maneuvering accurately through time from the past to the present.

Harry immediately fell in love with his dragon and it reciprocated the feeling. He was quite startled to hear the little dragon speaking to him. It informed him that its name was Peridot, and he came from a long line of Welsh Greens that guarded the level the Potter Family vault was on.

Peridot also informed him that he was speaking Dragonsong, which Parceltonge was a derivative of. Harry would later learn about snakes being created from dragons as an offshoot of the Sumerian sorcerers carrying out selective breeding on them to produce a magical animal to keep rodents from ruining their grain crops.

During the course of the day Harry told Professor Flitwick about how Uncle Vernon had loaded everyone into the car and drove all around England trying to get away from the owls with letters that Dumbledore saw fit to bombard the Dursley family with. The professor listened as the child described some of the places they had been and the ridiculous situations that Harry found himself wanting to cry over.

Flitwick pondered the situation, but did not have an answer as to why Dumbledore was being so obsessive about Harry. He would have to have help with acquiring all the information needed to put the puzzle together that was known as Harry Potter. It was a good thing he was not alone in trying to figure out a solution. He would have to meet and discuss things with his associates at the bank; he would also have to find a way to meet with them discreetly since his being in the alley for an extended period of time was an abnormality and would most likely be noted by either Dumbledore's spies or the ministry and reported back to them.

Flitwick nodded his understanding of the situation, and after taking Harry back home he left him with the admonition to leave everything in his trunk unless he was safe by himself because of some of the items the goblins had encouraged him to remove from his vault and begin familiarizing himself with were not only family heirlooms, they were irreplaceable, one of a kind items. Harry understood the importance of sticking to his schedule and using his resources wisely; if some of the small gadgets he was in possession of were to be lost he would not be able to do some of the work his mother had set for him.

Flitwick returned to Diagon Alley after he told Harry to carry on with the usual daily routine. From there he apparated back to the island Harry told him they had spent the night on to pick up the Dursley's trail. It was a simple job to enter the restaurant where they were eating an early dinner and alter their memories.

By the time the Dursley family pulled into their driveway late that evening, they were convinced that they had had a marvelous time exploring the coastline as a weekend outing and had plans to do so again rather soon. Harry managed to put a nice meal on the table for them at short notice and began the laundry while they ate again. He had visions of Vernon shrinking until all three Dursleys resembled the little rotund beasts with hairy toes that J.R.R. Tolkien referred to as hobbits; it would explain their love of eating several meals a day. That still did not explain Aunt Petunia though. He imagined that she had once been normal, but did not like Lily because she had once transfigured her into a giraffe and muddled the counter-spell.

No further mention was made of Harry going off to Hogwarts. The family decided to make known that they were quite pleased he had been accepted into a splendid boarding school up north. Petunia could often be heard gossiping to some of the other ladies regarding her boys as they were both going to attend excellent upper schools. Her Dudley would attend Smeltings because that was the school his father attended while Harry would attend the school where his father and mother had been Head Boy and Girl their final year.

Everyone was suitably impressed that Petunia had done such a wonderful job with 'her' boys. They were particularly ecstatic regarding the fact that Dudley Dursley would be gone from the neighborhood for some nine to ten months out of the year. It was a cause of great rejoicing in the playground that the fat bully would be leaving- none too soon.

* * *

The day before Harry was to leave for school; Bookgrabber showed up and explained to him how to get on the Hogwarts Express. He also explained the implications of the message Flitwick sent. Dumbledore had arranged for a red-headed lady with a pack of red-headed children to help him get on the train. They were then to befriend and influence him to join them in Gryffindor where they could hopefully directly manipulate him toward some goal Dumbledore had in mind.

Harry was not particularly thrilled with the idea of falling into the watchful clutches of Dumbledore's lackeys. He was quite a decisive eleven-year-old and felt if there was a valid reason why his life should be controlled for him then he ought to be informed about it. His parents journals had detailed the circumstances leading up to their deaths and he quite understood that they would probably be alive if they had not left the protections of Potter Manor to go live in a small cottage where the wards could be considered 'iffy' at best.

However, what was done was done and there was no going back to redo it. It did not preclude the thought that he did not have to repeat his parents' mistake in trusting the manipulative old man. The goblins had taken the time to teach Harry Wizard's chess; one must think a few moves ahead if he wanted to win.

Actually letting the family guide him onto the train was not a hardship. Falling in line with the plans the old man had made for him after getting on the train was a different matter. He knew he would have to cooperate somewhat with the plan just to make sure he was safe.

Harry almost said 'screw the whole thing' just before the woman's voice cut across his excited nerves like fingernails on a chalkboard, but it served to refocus him on the issues at hand. Her muggle speech was his cue to go forward and do the pretty by sucking up to her and playing ignorant like he was supposed to.

The train ride went much like it was scripted. Harry was surprised that the twins, Weasleys they said, came to check on their brother who had entered his compartment some time later whining about there not being space for him in any other car. The thought, 'here we go' echoed slightly in Harry's consciousness and served to steady him; the boy sitting with him was there for a reason. He might actually need a friend so it would not hurt to act civilized.

Ron soon found that Harry Potter was not the ignorant muggle raised child that would need a firm hand and lots of guidance to succeed in the Wizarding world. He also found it strangely thrilling when Harry mentioned that the Pureblood families had once sworn allegiance to Dukedoms, at first referred to as Oldbloods which was later changed to Ancient and Noble Houses. "Why do you mention the Old and Noble Houses, Harry?" He finally asked.

Harry smiled gently, "because the Weasley family was once a vassal of the Potter Duchy."

"What does that mean to me?" He had a calculating look in his eye as he asked the question.

Harry leaned back in his seat and studied the face of the boy across from him. "It does not mean anything that you don't want it to. I will not demand loyalty from you at all. Once you have learned what there is to learn about the Old Ways and have entered puberty, only then shall we discuss this subject again." He looked at Ron with a level gaze, "There will come a time when we discuss several things quite bluntly, but this is not the day."

Ron gave a curt nod. He was not the complete sloth most people thought of him as. He had perfected his image years ago as an attention getting device and figured it would probably work just as well at school as it did at home. One could not play chess as brilliantly as he could and be completely stupid. He simply chose not to let people know what he could do because he did not want to constantly be compared to his five older brothers who were all talented and successful. He wanted to be known on his own merit some day.

He looked askance at Harry as the boy reached over on the seat and took the towel off of what he had thought was an owl cage. There was an owl in the cage, a beautiful snowy owl whom Harry spoke softly to and referred to as Hedwig. There was also a little green dragon peering sleepily at Harry in a questioning mode. Ron's eyes reflected his jealousy as he realized that Harry had two stunning pets. He had a pet, a second-hand rat that did little more than eat and sleep.

Harry laughed quietly as he extended his arm into the cage for the dragon to climb onto. It came out and began looking around as Harry petted it gently on its horn ridges.

Ron sat there listening to them conversing in Dragonsong and wished he could have something that special some day.

Harry looked up at him and said," Ron, there will come a time when you have the things you need and you will be proud of them. Just be patient right now and be very careful how you do the job that they want you to do."

Ron sat there immobilized with shock. "How?"

Harry shook his head no as he said, "I can't tell you anything right now, Ron. But, I can tell you to keep your mouth shut and play dumb when they start asking you questions."

Ron felt like he was being weighed and measured with that speech. "I don't know what you are talking about, Harry." He finally said.

Before Harry could say anything else the door of the car was flung open and Draco Malfoy was standing there. "They are saying that Harry Potter is on the train." He announced.

Harry looked up and giggled. "Well, get in here, you great prat and close the door behind you."

Draco looked at him uncertainly for a second and saw Harry mouth the word, "Myrridon".

"Right, Crabbe, Goyle, get in here and keep your mouths shut."

The two boys who were flanking him quickly stepped in and closed the door. Harry stood up and offered his hand to Draco again. "Last time we met I was not allowed to introduce myself; Harry Potter, at your service."

Draco grinned and gave him a small formal bow. "Draco Malfoy, pleased to meet you." He then turned to his friends and introduced them, "This is Gregory Goyle, and this is Vincent Crabbe. Their fathers are friends of my father and I have been stuck baby-sitting the two great buffoons."

Greg and Vince both shook their heads at Draco's idiocy and shook hands with Harry.

When they were finished introducing themselves, Harry turned to Ron and said, "Ron, I would like you to meet three of my new acquaintances; Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe."

Ron stood up, but looked about ready to faint. "Harry, you do realize that all three of these are from Death Eater families?"

The three glared at him, but held their peace as they waited for Harry to say something.

Harry looked at the three then back to Ron. "I seem to have read something about the Death Eaters, but I was under the impression that they were much older than these three."

Ron huffed and glared at Harry. "They are just like their dads!"

Draco glared at Ron and said, "And everyone knows who you are. Red hair and hand-me-down clothes; you're a Weasley."

Ron was about to go at Draco with his fists when Harry spoke, "Ron, what you said to Draco was just as hurtful. Don't make me choose sides on who to be friends with already. We are only eleven and it is already more than I can take leaving home and being gone for months. I don't want to fight all the time along with the changes."

Draco stuck out his hand to Ron. "Let's do it, Weasley. When we are in front of the old man we will be mean and rude as a runespoor, in private we plot and get along. Potter is right, this is a new generation and Mother says that if we wizards want to survive and prosper we are going to need to change and adapt."

Ron was so shocked he tripped and fell back into his seat. He was brought back to the present by the laughter of the other four boys. He finally gave up trying to speak and extended his hand for the Malfoy heir to shake.

The five of them were interrupted by a knock on the door and then it opening. A girl stood there looking at them then asking in a posh London accent, "Has anyone here seen a toad? A boy named Neville lost one."

Malfoy looked up, "Neville, as in Longbottom?"

"Yes."

"Go back to him and tell him that he needs to get off his squib ass and find his own toad."

Honey gold eyes flew wide open as the girl gasped in surprise.

Draco just smirked as she slammed the door shut and quickly walked away.

Ron couldn't help the guffaw that escaped. "That was just wrong! But, it was too funny."

They all quit laughing when Peridot climbed over to Draco's shoulder and began looking at him with his head twisted down like a parrot does. Before he thought about what he was doing, Draco hissed, "Where did you come from, little dragon?"

The dragon sneezed and put a spot of soot on Draco's collar. "There were rumors in the underground of two dragon masters this year, but only Harry came to Gringotts. Why did you not come on your birthday as you were supposed to? Soon my nest sibling will die if you do not go and claim her as your familiar."

Draco's eyes flew open wide. "I did not know."

He was about to go into panic mode when Harry spoke, "Calmly, cousin. We can do nothing right now. When we get to school we will go to Professor Flitwick." He spoke in Dragonsong so that the others could not follow what they were saying.

The rest of the ride to Hogwarts seemed an eternity. Draco seemed to sink further and further into depression as the ride went on. None of the other boys knew what to say to him. He was named after a dragon, he had grown up on the legends of dragons, and now one lay dying because he had not known to go to Gringotts on his eleventh birthday to be presented to the dragons.

From stepping off the train until the sorting feast was finished was a blur for both Harry and Draco. All they wanted to do was find Professor Flitwick and get him to figure out what to do. Harry finally managed to send the little professor a note asking him to talk to him before they all left the Great Hall.

Flitwick smiled at Peridot as he climbed up the back of his chair so that people would not stare at him. The dragon had matured slightly after living with Harry for a month and had put on a bit of weight, but he was still small enough to be mistaken for a bird by someone who was just glancing casually at the body.

He gave the note to the professor then climbed into his open pocket to hide from the other inquisitive professors before they saw him and began asking too many questions. Flitwick opened it discreetly and read the contents quickly.

He looked up with a frown on and raised one eyebrow in inquiry as Harry discreetly signaled toward Draco. It was obvious at first glance that something was wrong with the blond boy. He nudged Professor Snape and when the sour looking professor turned to him, he motioned toward Draco and murmured that the young one on the end seemed to be slightly ill.

Snape immediately stood up and went down the row of tables until he got to his godson. "Draco, lad, what ails you?"

Harry watched discreetly as Draco was escorted from the room by Snape and followed shortly by Professor Flitwick. From there it was only a few moments until they made their way to Flitwick's quarters and fire-called Gringotts.

* * *

That night when most of the dormitory was asleep Harry got up and went over to Neville's bed. "Nev, are you awake?"

"Yeah." Came the sleepy reply of his friend who should have been a brother.

"You didn't come sit with me on the train. Did you find anyone who we might be able to make friends with?"

"That girl who Draco insulted." Then he snorted. "She came back to our compartment and was acting all upset. It was pretty funny listening to her rant about how rude he was to call me a squib."

Harry snickered. "It has been awhile since we got to talk. Has anything changed?"

Neville looked around to make sure no one was listening. "I had Gran take me to Gringotts like you suggested. Your tutor thinks that it might be possible to break a few of the enchantments Dumbledore put on me outright. The one that blocks my core will have to be weakened with a series of potions designed to melt the block a fraction of an inch a month. Gran was almost angry enough to go kill him herself when the goblin healer Bookgrabber suggested we see explained things to her."

"I am getting so frustrated with him doing all these bad things!" Harry whispered in a fretful voice. "I can't figure out what else it is he needs; he's got money, power, and prestige. Do you think he is trying to kill off all the purebloods?"

Both boys gave each other a horrified look, whispered a hasty 'good night' and were soon in their own beds trying to sleep. Harry saying Dumbledore might be out to kill all of the Old Blood families was a frightening thought. He and Neville were not ready to admit might be the actual reason the old man was doing these things to them. He was not able to sleep until he had pulled out his two-way communication journal and wrote his thoughts down regarding the conversation with Neville so Bookgrabber could analyze it.

Bookgrabber had been expecting a message and stayed awake to deal with it immediately in case something had gone badly for Harry. His eyes opened wide as he read the report, and his bellow of anger could be heard through several tunnels. Within minutes the journal was on its way to King Jared…

* * *

A very happy first year made his way to the Great Hall for breakfast the next morning. Tucked safely in his pocket was a pathetically weak, but recovering, Pigmy Welsh Green who insisted that her name was Lasulii. School was going to be everything Draco had longed for all his life. He had cool friends he could have fun with, a familiar he would die for, and a cousin who liked him for who he was, not what he was. Draco did not care that the pretentious little beast wanted her name to be a derivative of a blue stone; she was his and she was perfect...well, she would be once she recovered from being ill.

It did not take him very long to realize that all his good fortune was due to Harry Potter. That realization gave him the strength to do what he could to shield his cousin and keep to the plan to pretend he hated him.

It was a good plan and lasted the whole time they needed it to. Time after time the information exchanged between Draco and Harry was enough for them to put clues together in order to stay alive.

At the end of their first year Harry managed to delay Voldemort's return by keeping him from getting the Philosopher's stone. As a reward for doing what the old man wanted; Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville found themselves the cause of Gryffindor suddenly winning the House Cup. The resulting fallout could have been disastrous if Draco had not explained to his housemates what the Headmaster's real goal was in giving the cup to Gryffindor instead of its rightful owner, Slytherin.


	3. School of Life

Disclaimers: Please and thank you for referring to chapter 1.

Sources of inspiration include, but are not limited to: Harry Potter Series, Book Dragon, **Labyrinth; the Movie**, **Faeiries**, the movie, and any number of other fanfiction authors. If you recognize something as yours please let me know and if I agree with your claim I will list you also.

* * *

Second year started out rather oddly. Harry found that he could see animals harnessed to the front of what had previously been 'horseless' carriages. While he was looking at the strange horse-like beasts, a small blond girl came up and stood beside him. "They are called thestrals. You can only see them if you have seen a person die in front of you."

He cocked his head to the side. "I was there when my mother died. She was standing in front of my crib when Voldemort threw the killing curse at her. But, I did not see these horses at the end of last year when we rode the carriages back to Hogsmeade."

Hagrid called out for the first years then and the girl excused herself and left. Harry finally stepped up into the carriage where Ron, Draco, and several other boys were sitting. Neville shifted for him and he sat down.

Ron asked, "What were you talking about with Luna Lovegood?"

Harry looked at him. "Oh, was that her name? She told me that the animals that pull the carriages are thestrals, and that you can only see them if you have seen someone die. I don't understand though because I was there when my mother was murdered. And, I was definitely there when Professor Quirrell turned to dust, literally. Yet I did not see the thestrals until just now."

Ron nodded in understanding. "I don't know what to say about you, man, but I do know what happened to Luna. Her family lives close to our house and she and my sister, Ginny, were friends. But, Ginny said Luna is a bit strange ever since she saw her mother die in front of her when she was eight so she doesn't play with her very much anymore."

Draco scratched behind his ear while making a silly face. "That would definitely make me feel strange if I saw my mother die."

Theodore Nott interjected, "So should we try to bring her into the group? She might need a few friends and maybe Hermione Granger would calm down a little bit if she wasn't the only female who we let hang out with us."

Ron added, "I don't think it is going to be a good idea for us to ask Gin to join the group. She spent the whole summer going on about meeting Harry Potter and Mother did nothing to discourage her."

Draco spoke quickly as he saw the castle come into view. "Harry , I spoke with Father about us killing Quirrell at the end of last year. He says that he is pretty sure that we did not destroy Voldemort, and he is still trying to come back. I don't know what all we are going to have to do. Father thinks we will have to put him back in his body to do it properly."

They all looked at each other with fear written on their faces. The silence was not broken until Greg and Neville spoke at the same time. "We are here. It is back to being Gryffindors and Slytherins." The boys all groaned and piled out of the carriage to begin messing with each other again.

Harry silently signaled for Draco to meet him later. They would have to start planning to neutralize Voldemort along with getting rid of Dumbledore. Harry could be heard to grouse, "Frigging wonderful, How the hell am I supposed to do this crap. I am only twelve years old. "

It was a good decision on the boys' part to not include Ginerva Weasley in their group. Ginny spent the year being an unwilling accomplice in a bid to return Voldemort to a body. Had she been privy to the information Harry's gang was amassing, the Wizarding world would reenter the Dark Ages. It was only after Harry came back out of the Chamber of Secrets and discussed with the rest of them what had happened that they realized they had no clue what they were dealing with. Draco was the one who shamefacedly informed them how Ginny had obtained the diary. His father had deliberately placed it in her cauldron with the hope that she would give it to her father. "Father did not know exactly what the book was or did. He could not come right out and say that Voldemort gave it to him to keep safe, so he did what he thought would work. How was he to know she was not honest?"

Harry glared at Draco, "Damn it, Dray, he almsot got us killed. Why didn't he mention it to you?"

Draco looked at Harry then around to the rest of the group. "He did not know what we are up against."

Everyone nodded their acceptance. They all knew that Mr. Malfoy and a few other Death Eaters were only safe as long as no one knew that they were working to bring down Dumbledore and the ministry. They knew that Voldemort's politics was not workable. They also knew that there was something wrong with the way the Ministry was falling into decay; creating weaker and weaker wizards. it was like Magic was leaving earth, and they were sworn to fix it if they could.

Neville smiled at Harry and Ron, "On the bright side, mates, there is a very large snake down in the Chamber of Secrets that is worth a fortune in gold and you two have first dibs on it. For a helper's recovery fee the rest of us will help you harvest it."

Theo nodded enthusiastically, "Maybe we can find some other stuff down there. We do need a few private fireplaces where we can talk to our parents, and there are bound to be rooms down there. Maybe we can start getting organized; you know, keep records of what we know and are doing, start storing items in case of war..."

The other boys dogpiled him and he spent the next ten minutes wiping his face and making gagging noises because everyone insisted on kissing him on the cheek. What really set him off though was when Harry got a turn at kissing him he had done so on the mouth then winked at him!

* * *

Third year was just incredible and saw the escape of Harry's godfather, Sirius Black, from Azkaban Prison. Harry then met the last of the Marauders, Remus Lupin, who turned out to be a werewolf. Lupin surprised everyone by being a decent teacher who was willing to spend quite a bit of extra time teaching the children how to protect themselves. He also taught Harry how to cast the Patronus charm once he saw how badly Harry was affected by the vile Dementor things.

By the end of Quidditch season Harry was proficient enough with the patronus that he managed to scare the daylights out of Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle when they dressed up to prank him. He used the Patronus at the end of the year to save both he and Sirius Black's life.

Forth year saw Harry pitted against students three years older than him in a deadly game played only for the amusement of the observers. Harry probably would not have been eaten by the Hungarian Horntail he had to acquire his egg from, but if Peridot had not snuck out of the tent and went over to talk to her before Harry met her it would have been much more difficult. Peridot returned to the tent and told Harry that she would put up a bit of a show, but she would let him get the egg if he made sure he did not harm any of her Clutch. The second task was irritating because Harry was not a strong swimmer. He would have died a second time except Dobby, one of the Malfoy family house elves, helped him. The third task went exactly as planned and Voldemort had been resurrected using Harry's blood in a dark ritual that left him looking quite revolting, but alive and in his own body again. Harry had not been quite sure how the ritual would work since the blood was willingly given. They discussed it later and Narcissa postulated that the reason Voldemort looked like a snake was the reaction created when the blood was willingly given instead of forcefully taken.

And, now it was fifth year and things were starting to move quite rapidly- fluidly and downhill. There was a sadistic DADA teacher on the rampage around the school, the headmaster was being a prize jerk, and the Potions Master was acting like he was Hitler reincarnated and the Gryffindors were Jews.

It seemed like there was nowhere to turn to for help and Harry desperately needed help. Flitwick and the goblins that had been helping him thus far were at a loss on what to do about his dreams. They tested him and he seemed to have a minor talent for prophetic dreams, but constantly dreaming of running down endless corridors full of locked doors did not seem to fit the criteria for a prophetic dream.

It was not until the night Harry woke up screaming that Mr. Weasley needed help that plans began to come clear. It took Harry quite some time to get Dumbledore to listen to him, and when it became clear that Harry had actually been part of the dream and that it had occurred things got worse for Harry because Dumbledore still did not explain to him what the problem was.

The goblins explained it to him. Harry was literally terrified when Bookgrabber handed him a small text on Horcruxes and told him to read it. The goblins were not entirely clueless thanks to his friends. Times when Harry could not get information to Gringotts, Hermione and Ron would often get the information through for him.

Hermione and Ron had both learned what the vassal system entailed and had sworn fealty to Baron Potter at the end of their third year. In exchange for gainful employment in the Potter holdings, they would receive all the rights and entitlements inherent in being attached to the House of Potter.

Harry also managed to strengthen already strong ties with Longbottom and Malfoy. It was a strong system and the information they gathered and shared often put a damper on both Dumbledore's and Voldemort's plans. The students working against both of them often found that playing the ends against each other was the best way to proceed with their own plans. So far they had not been caught setting up the confrontations that were undermining and weakening both the sides of the light and the dark.

And then Nagini had to go and bite Mr. Weasley. Harry had been sucked into Voldemort's mind and witnessed the attack from first person viewing. It caused a bit of friction between Harry, Ron, and Ginny on the surface. Dumbledore witnessed just enough distress between the students to come up with the bright idea that Harry needed to go to 12 Grimmauld Place with the Weasleys in order to keep everyone close and safe.


	4. Yuletide at Grimmauld Place

Disclaimers: Please and thank you for referring to chapter 1.

Sources of inspiration include, but are not limited to: Harry Potter Series, **Book Dragon**, **Labyrinth; the Movie**, **Faeiries;** **the movie**, and any number of other fanfiction authors. If you recognize something as yours please let me know and if I agree with your claim I will list you also.

* * *

Harry was not really pleased that he was spending Christmas holidays at 12 Grimmauld Place from the point of view that the Weasley patriarch was in the hospital. It was, however, his first Christmas away from Hogwarts, and he was enjoying being with Sirius Black, his godfather.

He couldn't help thinking though, that for every plus he could tally for being there, he could also tally a negative. The negative that he was currently enduring was having to help clean rooms that were not only dirty, they were infested with magical pests, dark artifacts, and people like Snape and Fletcher, not necessarily in that order. The plus to that situation was that while the Weasley family was at the hospital, he was spending time with Hermione, just hanging out as friends.

So, Harry and Hermione found themselves in the broom closet just off the sitting room, organizing and taking stock of what was in it. They were caught totally off guard when Dumbledore and Dung Fletcher entered said room and began casting privacy wards. Hermione looked at Harry rather confusedly at this, but a simple shake of his head kept her quiet. Her eyes rounded in amazement when she saw him remove a set of extendable ears from his robe pocket and offer her one while using an old bent coat hanger to ease the auditory part of both ears inside the ward.

Fletcher was listening intently to Dumbledore as the old man began outlining exactly what they needed to do to get Sirius Black back out of the realm of influence on Harry. Obviously Azkaban had not been effective enough. Maybe there was a way they could get their hands on the Prophesy for Tom, get Potter back under control, and get rid of Black permanently all in one go.

The two teens were so horrified that Hermione could not control an involuntary gasp. It was loud enough that they knew the people on the other side of the door had heard them. She had just raised huge horrified eyes to his when time actually warped for her. Harry had closed his eyes and moaned, "Again, Mione. Just like that."

She mewled like a kitten when Harry's hands grabbed her bottom while he buried his face against the curve of her neck and began nibbling. Never let it be said that she can't give as good as she was getting. By the time Dumbledore crossed the room and pulled the closet door open, Harry and Hermione were locked in a tongue wrestling match that had the old man blinking and wishing he were a decade, or fourteen, younger.

The door opening did not distract them from their party. Dumbledore, seeing what he wanted to see, closed the door, and went back to the discussion with Fletcher. He completely missed seeing Harry winding the cords for the extendable ears into Hermione's pocket. Fletcher was too busy seeing what he could put in his own pockets to worry about what someone else was doing.

Harry pulled away from Hermione and whispered, "Do you reckon he will try a memory charm on us before he will let us out of here?"

She narrowed her eyes. "he will try something before he lets us get away just to make sure he is safe."

"What do you think we should do?"

Hermione began, "We need a... yes, that will do nicely." As Harry held up a small crystal vial. "Do you have two?"

Seconds later the teens had the memories they did not want to lose in their vials and went back to snogging some more before Hermione let out a squawk as she bumped into a rack of mops with her hip. She accidentally knocked Harry off balance and sent them both tumbling to the floor. This time when Dumbledore opened the closet door he saw two embarrassed teens trying to untangle themselves from the mops, buckets, and other cleaning supplies that had all been pulled over.

The old man stood there beaming at them while Harry finally gained his feet and then reached down to help Hermione get up and sorted out. Hermione could not help the blush that spread across her face when he spoke, "I don't think I need to explain the dangers inherent in conducting business in broom closets?"

Harry kept his head lowered so there would be less chance of Legitimacy performed on him. "Yes, Sir, we understand. But, it was not business; it was all pleasure."

Hermione could not help voicing her thoughts. "As for the getting caught, I don't know about that. I think we should try and at lest one more closet to see if tripping was just a fluke."

Harry's mischievous smirk let her know that he was game for another try also.

Dumbledore shook his head in despair that the two would be so incorrigible. Of course they could not escape completely unscathed. He would have to make sure they did not know anything. A quick **_obliviate_** would do nicely in a few minutes he thought. The reason he had to wait was because the resulting chaos had Molly racing into the room to see what the noise was.

The teens took that opening and managed to slip out of the room and head straight for the kitchen where Sirius was before Dumbledore got to them again. Harry slipped the vials to Sirius and muttered, "Mischief Managed."

Sirius saw spell residue tingle across the two of them a few minutes later. Scanning the room discreetly, he saw Dumbledore slide the tip of his wand back up his sleeve and decided that he would have a chat with the children just as soon as the old guy departed. Something stunk like dead fish at 12 Grimmauld Place, and it was not the hippogriff in the attic.

It did not take long for the party to wind down after Molly decided to lecture them in front of everyone congregated in the kitchen. Harry turned his face slightly away from her and gritted his teeth while Hermione glared at the woman until she became unnerved and lost her train of thought. Hermione finally hissed, "I do not need you lecturing me on what is and is not proper. We did not do anything inappropriate. Or, is kissing your boyfriend considered improper in the Wizarding world if you are a mudblood and a pureblood wants to have a go at him?"

Mrs. Weasley gasped in outrage and started to lecture some more, but all eyes turned to Ginny when she gave a broken sob and ran from the room. As she stood there looking bemused, Ron stood up and reached across the table to where Harry was sitting.

Before anyone could stop him, he slapped Harry so hard that his glasses crashed into the wall beside him and shattered. "You just had to take the woman I wanted, didn't you, Potter? You knew Ginny fancied you, but she isn't enough is she? How can you do this to us when we are supposed to be your friends?" By the time he was finished screaming at Harry his face was as red as the slap across Harry's cheek.

Hermione glared at Ron and moved closer to Harry. She checked his face and cast a quick basic healing spell on the red mark that was surely stinging. She was just turning to attack Ron when Harry restrained her with a touch to her arm and a small shake of his head. She huffed, but kept her silence.

Harry stood up. Wand-less and silently, he compelled the glasses to repair themselves and return to his outstretched hand. After placing the glasses back on, he looked at Ron and stated, "The next time you strike me, you had best have a very good reason why. Remember, Vassal Weasley, you have just struck your liege Lord."

Ron glared at him and refused to apologize.

Harry watched him for a few seconds then nodded. "Remove yourself from my presence. I shall deal with you in private."

Ron made a grandiose bow before backing out of the room much like the Death Eaters did when leaving the presence of their master. The twins, Bill, and Charlie all looked suitably horrified until they caught Harry's wink in Hermione's direction.

Sirius was about to take Harry to task about treating others so badly, but subsided when he saw Bill make a discreet hold movement. He leaned close to him and whispered, "Do you know what is going on?"

Bill shook his head 'no' then went back to watching his mother as she reacted to Harry's command. He was sensitive enough to magic to know that something important had occurred, he did not have enough information though to figure it out just yet.

Molly was so staggered that she forgot to rant. She sat so rigidly that one could almost assume she had been hit with a **_pertrificus totalus_**. She did not break out of her trance until Harry came around the table and actually began casting diagnostic spells on her. She raised horrified eyes to him. "I don't know what to say."

He shrugged. "Mrs. Weasley, I don't really suppose that there is much you need to say. I have not discussed the subject of vassalage to the rest of your family, but Ronald and I have done so. Part of my responsibilities when I reached the age of fourteen was to begin assimilating the knowledge necessary to represent the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. Neville's Grandmother has been training both of us to assume our rightful places in Society. Learning who I am responsible for is part of my duties."

Molly blinked and shook her head as if she were trying to fight off the effects of something that had left her quite dizzy. "I know the Prewitts swore fealty to the Longbottom, but I did not think at all of what it would mean for my sons when they came of age. She looked up at four of her six boys, "I am sorry, sons. When your father and I discarded many of the old ways and refused to teach you them, we did not consider about the social hierarchy that has bound our society into this feudal system. "

All four boys shrugged. Finally Fred decided to explained it her. "Mother, we are at war. Voldemort and the Death Eaters are back and are actively working to destroy the Wizarding World. We cannot sit on the fence and let others do the fighting for us. We have to take a stand or we cannot call ourselves men. The social system that we are working under is clearly in our favor this time. If we go with the House of Potter which is our duty and we lose the war, we will be seen as backing our Liege Lord. That is acceptable to the Pureblood teachings and our house will continue on. If we win this war we will be the victors and can help change things, without facing penalties because we supported the Light."

The other three males nodded their agreement. Bill said, "That really is it, Mother. When Father comes home from the hospital we will discuss formally swearing our allegiance to either House Longbottom or the House Potter and all the protections that are inherent will activate. Personally, since we already owe House Potter two life debts I will argue we swear to Potter here."

Molly sniffed delicately before looking up at Harry just standing there. "Are you happy with this, Harry?"

"Mrs. Weasley, trust me when I say that this is one of the more palatable situations I shall face soon."

"It still does not seem right."

Harry smiled sadly. "Let us have this discussion when Mr. Weasley gets back, yes? Right now we need to take care of you. I know you have not been having a very good Yuletide so far, and have been under a great deal of stress. The scan I just performed indicates that while you are basically healthy physically, you are quite exhausted. I think you should probably get some rest. William can escort you to the little sitting room attached to the main parlor. We finished cleaning and refurbishing it just this afternoon so you should be comfortable while you rest in private."

Molly was set to argue when Harry spoke again. "If you would prefer, William will escort you up to your room. Originally I had asked Winky to come help Kreacher and Dobby over the holidays, but under the circumstances I think we will let her attend you."

As he spoke he directed the kettle to fill and heat, and by the time Molly was being helped to the newly restored ladies retiring room, tea had been made for her and taken there by the little house elf that suddenly found herself in a home instead of at the school.

Molly had barely left the room before Sirius was casting scanning spells to see if the room was being monitored. Finding it clean, he threw up a few privacy wards, silencing spells, and distortion spells. Finally, he turned to Harry and said, "We would like to have an explanation for that one, Lord Potter."

Hermione sat back down and giggled madly as Harry smirked and said, "Oh, good, we were not too obvious then?"

"No, not at all." Bill said in a perfectly calm voice as he returned. "If I had not seen you wink at Ms. Granger I would be quite worried right now. So, anything you should like to mention to us is of the utmost importance to us. Trust me when I say that we shall be hanging off your every word."

Sirius reached in his pocket, 'would it have anything to do with this?" He held the vials up to the light and watched the silvery stands swirling around in the containers. "I felt the spell residue from an **_Obliviate _**go past me just after Dumbledore entered the room a few minutes after you and Hermione gave these to me."

Hermione nodded her head at him. "Funny thing that memory; Harry and I both knew that obliviate was coming. I felt it slide past us though. I remember everything. But, yes, we need to review that memory and determine exactly what it means. We should probably get Ron back down here, too. He might have seen something while we were stuck in the closet."

Sirius nodded and set the vials down on the table.

Then she glared at Harry and added in a sickly-sweet voice, "We would also like to know just when we were going to be told that Winky is now working for House of Potter? I thought you agreed with me regarding the treatment of house elves?"

Harry smiled. "I don't think Ron stuck around after he noticed we were having problems." Then he added in a perfectly calm voice, "As for the house elf issue, Hermione, I will let Dobby and Winky explain their position to you sometime. You might find yourself enlightened on more than one point."

Hermione wanted to scream in frustration, but held herself in check. "OK, but I really do want it explained to me."

Ron's head popped back around the door. "Hermione, Harry is trying to save you some embarrassment in front of the family. However, I will explain it so that you can move past the house elf issue and we can work on other things."

Harry shook his head. "Not now, Ron. We really need you both here for this one. Whatever Dumbledore has planned, it is big and nasty. Sirius and I need all the help we can get because without you all, we are going down."

Ron stepped into the room and pulled the door closed. "You're right, I didn't go far. I went to see if I could find the twins since they would be the most help in getting around anything Dumbledore would have set up." The youngest Weasley male looked to be in perfect humor so everyone who did not know what was going on with the golden trio stopped and stared at him until he looked at Harry and whined, "Make them stop staring at me. They're creeping me out!"

Fred snorted as George stated, "We are creeping him out? He went storming out of here just like a Tasmanian devil and comes back acting like a smarmy git."

"No, that would be Percy. I'm acting like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

Harry queried, "And, you currently are?"

Ron smirked, "Pick one. They were both a bit off."

Hermione looked at him, "That is s sad commentary on our times that you would say something like that and mean it. All jokes aside though, we really do need to get started." Then she saw Sirius doing something 'not normal' and added, "Just as soon as we can get the dog-father to cooperate."

The Weasleys shifted their attention to Sirius. Ron asked the obvious, "What precisely are you doing?"

Sirius made a few faces as he thought and finally said, 'trying to remember where the pensives around here have been stored lately." He stood up and wandered around the kitchen looking in the cabinets for some sort of inspiration that only a grim could respect. Finally, drumming his fingers along an empty cabinet, he muttered, "there are two bowls in the basement, but they have memories that we have been working on. Then with a look that suggested 'Eureka' he softy asked, "Kreacher, do you know of any other pensive in the house?"

Kreacher bowed his old head. "There is the Black Legacy Pensive. Master Sirius knows not to use it for anything except its original intention."

"That is fine, Kreacher. I already discounted us using the Black Legacy Pensive. That just was not an option for us so I didn't mention it."

Bill pulled a heavy pewter bowl down from the cupboard and cast a few quick spells on it. "This will work as a temporary pensive. When we finish you need to put the memory back in the vial."

Harry moved over to the rest of them. "Let's get this done then. It is of more than passing importance."

It did not take the lot of them much time to view the memories and begin to discuss them. Charlie shook his head. "Damn, but I wish Dad was here. He always told me that he thought there were a few things wrong about those two."

Harry quirked an eyebrow as he stared at Charlie. "Are you sure you are not just saying that because Dumbledore being a bad guy just is not something you are bound to accept on the evidence of two sets of memories from the same event?"

Charlie nodded his head. "Good question." Then he looked at his other four brothers who were in the room. "Would one of you like to validate this memory for me that I am about to show Harry?"

George stepped forward. "You want to show him what Dad said after he came to in the hospital?"

Bill nodded, "Yes, that one is a good choice." Then turning to Harry he mentioned, "This happened just after Mum stepped out to use the loo."

Sirius asked, "Was the timing crucial?"

Fed and George answered simultaneously, "Absolutely..."

"Critical."

Harry looked over at Sirius. "Caution is advised around Molly then?"

Charlie heard Harry's statement and nodded again.

Hermione grinned at him. "Keep doing that nodding thing and you will wind up looking like a bobble head doll." At his look of confusion she cackled madly before transfiguring a tea cup into a small dragon shaped doll with a detached head that bounced on a spring.

Fred and George squealed happily while immediately copying the bobble concept to make more prank items. Charlie recovered from his laughing fit and began to explain that Arthur Weasley had been in a state of consciousness, but had been unable to communicate due to the paralysis from the snake bite when he overhead Dumbledore discussing practically the same thing with Snape and someone else that had been there.

Hermione asked, "Did he know who the other person was? How did Snape respond to Dumbledore's overture?"

Charlie admitted, "Dad did not recognize the man because he was not in his line of sight and he did not speak enough for him to even determine his gender." He looked at her solemnly for a few seconds before adding, "Sorry, no clue who he could be."

"Snape?" Sirius asked

Bill sat back down and pulled the tea pot over to his place. He thought carefully about what he remembered and said, "I don't know. I can pull my memory of the discussion. I think the best idea would be to get Dad's memory of it and go over it together."

Harry yawned then spoke. "Let's go over everyone's memories of the conversation Mr. Weasley and you all had. Maybe somebody noticed something no one else did."

Some minutes later everyone came back out of the makeshift pensive. Hermione stated the obvious, "The memories were all pretty much the same. The only difference I could see was in Bill's memory where he looked around for any spying spells and such. I saw a muggle surveillance camera that would have recorded all activity that happened in the room. "

Harry tilted his head. "What would they be doing with a muggle security camera in St. Mungo's? "

Hermione grinned. "Why observing obviously."

They both smirked. "We should be able to go back through those tapes and maybe find the other person in the room. It would also help to determine just how much of Dumbledore's Man Snape really is.

Sirius sighed in frustration. "I would still like to know exactly what Dumbledore is playing at. I spent twelve years in prison because of him, Harry spent ten years suffering neglect and child abuse. What is the man trying to do?"

Hermione, ever the organized one, pulled out a notebook and a biro. "Let's write all the facts down. After we analyze them we might find a pattern. She scratched away for several minutes as she wrote down the things she knew.

Sirius even showed her how to record memories in video format before cautioning her that that was an Auror restricted spell. The others sat quietly while she updated the journal. When she was finished, she asked if anyone else had any further thoughts.

Sirius looked at Harry. "If you don't' mind, there is a spell that James told me about in the **Potter Book of Shadows** that might be useful. It is a protection spell and I think we need to work it for all of us if we have the power."

Harry blinked. "Isn't the **Potter Book of Shadows** buried in a vault in Gringotts? We are not going to get hold of it tonight."

Sirius grinned. "The book is at Potter Castle and the easiest way to get it would be to ask one of your elves to fetch it for you."

Dobby, the spastic house elf, was nominated to retrieve the book. Minutes later, the little elf showed up carrying a beautifully bound book covered in iridescent green dragon scales. He handed it to Harry with a regal bow. "Does Master Harry Potter, Sir, need Dobby to do anything else for him? Dobby would be most pleased to help Master Harry."

Harry nodded to the elf. "Thanks, Dobby. Sit and rest a bit. We are trying to figure out just what it is that Dumbledore is trying to do. We are pretty sure that he wants to kill Sirius to get him out of the way. Merlin only knows what plan he is concocting to keep me 'under control'."

Charlie could not help but reach out and stroke the cover of the book while murmuring, "Virgin female Welsh Black." His reaction to the book was noted by Harry and Hermione.

"How do you know that?" Harry asked the question for her.

"We maintain approximately fifty species of dragon at the reservation. I could tell it was a female Welsh Black by the shape and pattern of the scale. The iridescent color at the tip becomes a blinding white just before she rises for her first mating flight. Once the female bonds and breeds, her scales become the beautiful onyx so common in the older dragons of the species."

"So what causes the color shift?" Hermione wanted to know more about the dragons simply because she wanted to keep Charlie talking. If he was talking about dragons then she got to spend more time with him. If she spent more time with him, maybe one day he would look up and notice that she was a female.

Charlie shrugged. "Without killing a dragon at each stage of their maturation, we hypothesize that it is a chemical reaction due to the male injecting sperm into the female."

Harry interrupted, "So it is sort of like when flamingos eat shrimp. If they don't eat shrimp they will not die, but they will not develop the beautiful pink coloring that people have come to associate with flamingos unless they do eat them."

"That is probably an accurate assessment." The dragon tamer acknowledged.

Somehow the whole conversation turned to dragons and late into the night Charlie shared his knowledge of dragon lore with seven wizards and three house elves who had stopped work to come and listen to tales of the beasts once known to them as the emperors of the earth.

* * *

Molly assumed that since she had slept late, then everyone else had also. In fact not everyone had slept late. They were just waiting on her to start moving about so they could put their plans into action.

She knew that Winky had put her to bed the night before with a touch of sweet dreams elixir in a cup of warm milk. What she had not noticed though was the little elf had also cast a sleeping spell on Ginerva so that the other residents of the house could get some serious talking done. They made good use of the time and plotted just about every step of the plan; with a few contingencies in case the steps did not work properly.

They all agreed that Harry and Sirius needed to go to Gringotts. They also agreed that they could not just walk in the door and announce their presence. People would have to be shifted around; Harry came up with the perfect plan. "Why don't we polyjuice ourselves as each other? That way your mum and Ginny can come with us and they will not be watching us because they won't be as suspicious."

Bill laughed out loud at that. "Obviously Charlie and I are going to have to give our identities to you and Sirius. The twins should become Harry and Sirius, so that leaves the twins here at the house. We will need Hermione and Ron to convince Mom and Ginny that everyone is who they say they are."

The twins smiled charmingly at him then proceeded to tell him he was the most wonderful child they knew of.

Bill accepted their compliments gracefully. "Thank you; you two are awesome brothers also. And, just so you won't get bored while we are gone, I will give you one of your birthday presents early."

Both boys were definitely interested. "Yes?"

Sirius directed a generalized glare around the table. "Hello! Doesn't anyone see the problem with this plan?"

Hermione looked at him and sneered, "No. Should we?"

The expression on his face when he realized what she said had everyone else around the table laughing. He did not want to lower everyone's spirits, but felt he should point out the obvious. "We don't have any polyjuice."

Ron couldn't resist saying, "And you call yourself a marauder. No self respecting joker ever goes anywhere without their standard dose of polyjuice."

He blinked and looked at the serious faces around him. "All of you?" He asked in a very confused voice.

They nodded their heads.

"Do you have enough Polyjuice potion for at least six people to stay juiced up for at least three hours each?"

They nodded again.

"OK. We will do this around twelve or so. That way Mum won't want to eat lunch at the Leaky Cauldron and waste time that we don't have."

Bill looked around the table and saw everyone wilting. "Let's head up to bed. "We are going to have to move fast around the alley to get in and out in three hours. Before we call it a night though, let's make a plan of what we would like to get done while we are out."

Hermione whipped out the notepad and biro again and began making lists of what each of them would do. Bill and Charlie both glared at her when she handed them their 'to do' list: be obnoxious, act like a jerk.

The twins thought it was much more amusing than their list: Harry- throw tantrum and hide in room. Sirius- throw tantrum because godson is throwing tantrum and hide in room also.


	5. You're ugly when you're mad!

Disclaimers: Please and thank you for referring to chapter 1.

Sources of inspiration include, but are not limited to: Harry Potter Series, **Book Dragon**, **Labyrinth; the Movie**, **Faeiries;** **the movie**, and any number of other fanfiction authors. If you recognize something as yours please let me know and if I agree with your claim I will list you also.

* * *

Harry was the first one down the stairs after getting only some two hours of sleep. After everyone had gone to their rooms he had retreated to the library where he spent the rest of the night reading the Potter Book of Shadows and cuddling with Peridot, who was now the size of a full grown house cat. The spell which Sirius wanted Harry to research was not too terribly complicated. Once they visited the apothecary they would be able to cast the spell at any time.

Peridot had proudly explained to Harry that he was now the largest living Pygmy Dragon in the world; he reckoned he wouldn't grow much larger. Harry did not care how big the dragon got; he adored him and lavished care on him. When the other students were relaxing or playing, Harry was often found bathing Peridot like one would a child then oiling his scales so he wouldn't scratch himself raw trying to relieve an itch.

The Potter Book of Shadows was a brilliant masterpiece, and with Peridot's help he had mastered everything he had read. From reading the book he also discovered that he had living family. It also explained why the goblins were so kind as to help him. Harry James Potter's grandmother was the daughter of Jareth, King of the Goblins, and Sarah, his queen. The young princess, not being the heir to the throne, had been allowed to leave the Labyrinth after meeting Harold Potter and falling madly in love at first sight.

Harry laughed quietly as he ran his hand abstractedly through his hair. No more mystery on how his hair looked so bad all the time. After seeing pictures of the King and Queen, he knew he came by the hair honestly. He had inherited Sarah's long black hair and Jareth's 'style'.

Enough reflection though, he had to help Dobby get breakfast on the table so they could all head off to Diagon Alley around twelve like they planned. After his fifth gigantic yawn, one of which almost misplaced Peridot from his shoulder, Dobby brought him a vial of Pepper-upper which he drank without a second thought. A few minutes later he and Dobby were having fun making hash browns, western omelets, and other breakfast foods as they thought of them. They were having a pleasant argument regarding the correct way to whip a dash of cream into the eggs when scrambling them when Molly entered the room and saw the fruits of their labors.

She looked at the food in horror. "What are you cooking?" She snapped.

Harry tensed at her tone of voice, but managed to keep his cool. "I felt like cooking breakfast so that you would not have to. Dobby has been helping me. Can I get you a plate and a cup of tea?"

Molly was definitely pouting as she accepted the food and drink. "Why any self-respecting woman would let a young boy near the kitchen to do anything except to eat is beyond me." She mumbled.

He did not want to hurt her feelings too badly but he did not appreciate her disparaging remark. "Aunt Petunia has been teaching me to cook since I was old enough to stand on a chair and see the top of the burners properly. She felt that it would be a good thing for me to be able to take care of myself. I can cook, clean, do laundry, and sew. Well, she didn't teach me to sew. I learned that in Home Economics class at school."

She was completely scandalized. "Muggles teach that sort of stuff to their children?"

"Of course they do. Muggles don't have house elves. And, most Muggle women certainly would not tolerate being relegated to the kitchen by themselves constantly." Hermione had entered the room and spied the food at the same time she processed the conversation.

Molly was bewildered at the thought. "Muggle women don't want to keep their house in good order for their family?"

Harry raised an eyebrow at that question. Hermione nodded so he added his two cents worth. "Muggle women are a lot like Magical women. Depending on how good of an education they have, and how much money their family possesses; they get to make a few choices on whether they want to start a family immediately or wait until they are a bit older and established. They have the choice of a career if their grades are good enough. Some even hire other people to act as house elves for them."

"I don't know. It still seems like it is wrong."

Bill entered the room and stated his opinion. "To tell you the truth, Mum, I was at a bit of a disadvantage there for awhile. You did not show us how to cook and clean when we were at home and then when we went to Hogwarts the elves kept everything up for us. When I first went to work at Gringotts I was put on probation once for not keeping my work area tidy and my personal appearance sharp. If it had not been for a muggle-born helping me get settled in I might have made a right mess of things."

By then the rest of the household had risen and arrived at the kitchen. Charlie agreed with Bill that it might have been easier if he had learned a bit of house keeping at home. He laughingly admitted that his first four months in his own apartment was an unmitigated disaster. He hadn't cleaned anything, did not do laundry, and had lost fifteen pounds simply because the slop he threw together to eat wasn't safe for a dragon.

Peridot growled at him for that remark. Harry, at his insistence, informed Bill that dragons actually had a very refined palate. The naughty little lizard winked at Hermione as Harry delivered his message sotto voce, "We prefer our meat to be low fat, still warm from the kill, and preferably a beautiful virgin."

Hermione was used to the naughty beast after four and a half years and just glared at it as she said, "Chinese Wizards eat barbecued cat as a delicacy."

Peridot lifted a claw lazily and licked it. "I am not a cat." Was the statement Harry issued with a lofty toss of his head that caused the dragon to hiss in displeasure at almost losing his seat twice in one morning.

The twins decided to get things rolling. "Mummy, will you let us go to Diagon Alley today? We need to get some more quills and paper for our classes and we have not finished our Christmas shopping yet."

Ginny chimed in, "Oh, Please, Mummy? I haven't got everyone their gifts yet and I need to go to the Christmas Market for the last few things."

Molly looked at her hopeful children then at Harry and Sirius. "Maybe going to the Market is not the best idea." She said.

Harry looked up from pushing the food around on his plate. "Don't deny your own children a bit of fun in life just because Dumbledore told you to keep me caged up like he does Sirius." His eyes flashed an unholy green as he hissed the name Dumbledore.

She turned to face him. "Professor Dumbledore has kept you safe and sound for the last fourteen years. You will show him some respect, young man."

He stood and threw his plate at the sink. "Dumbledore has not done a damn thing for me. Whatever freaking stupid game he is playing by pushing me and other people around like pieces on a chessboard is for his own amusement."

She roared, "That is not true."

"If it is not true why did you look at me and Sirius with that bull shit pity expression on your face? You are as bad as he is; only you don't even know why you are doing what he tells you to."

Sirius stood, "Harry?"

Harry snarled at him. "Yes, I know. Go to my room."

"AND?"

"And, what? You want me to apologize to Mrs. Weasley for making her keep me under surveillance and making sure I don't do anything Dumbledore doesn't want me to?" He glared at Sirius then the rest of the people still sitting there looking miserable, embarrassed, and uncomfortable. "I am not apologizing for speaking the truth." He flashed his hand that had the lines 'I will not tell lies' etched into it. "You see this? Nobody at Hogwarts gives a damn that some fat toad of a bitch uses blood quills because it was not used on them. The same with my home life, Dumbledore does not get beaten and starved by the Dursleys so that's OK too. "

Molly was sniffing quietly and managed to choke out, "That is not true. Professor Dumbledore cares a great deal for you."

Harry jerked his arm away from where Ginny was trying to hold him. "Get off me. For the last damn time, woman, leave me alone! Save it for some guy that actually wants you to feel him up."

The whole room when silent at that revelation and Harry made his escape.

Some five minutes later the twins were tapping at his door. Fred and George were both slightly subdued as they looked at their adopted brother. "That was a bit rough, Harry." George finally said.

Harry looked up at him from where he was sitting on the edge of his bed. There were tear tracks on his face that he didn't bother to wipe off. "I know. I should not have taken my temper out on your mum. I just get too pissed off when people start spouting shit about how wonderful Dumbledore is. They never look beyond what he tells them to look at."

He sniffed a time or two then mumbled, "She started it though. The first thing she did when she came downstairs was to start in on me and Dobby about our cooking. She did not even try it, she just started nagging us."

Fred sat down and put an arm around him. "Harry, we are not angry with you. We would like to say some of the same things to mum and dad. We are just a bit unnerved that you had to say that so bluntly and we are worried that it won't help. Dumbledore has mum's ear and it won't be that easy to back off."

Harry snorted, "Yeah, like she is going to run to him and start complaining that Sirius is letting me run wild and he will find a way to keep us apart permanently."

Ron tapped on the door and stuck his head in. "Come on, guys. The plan worked. Mum is pissed and wants to go out. Sirius will be up in a moment. Mum is chewing his ear about letting Harry speak so bluntly and he is determined to give as good as he gets on the issue."

"So it looks like another successful job, huh?" Bill said as he came into the room.

Harry shook his head no but pulled out his vial of polyjuice when he heard the others click theirs together. He took the hairs Bill handed him and then handed three of his hairs to George. The three of them said, "Bottoms up!" And then they became each other.

Hermione and Ginny raced up the steps and pounded on the door before darting off into their own room. The boys all looked at each other and then let out a deep breath. "Showtime." Harry mumbled.

Sirius gave a dignified knock on the door and opened it. He looked at the Harry on the bed and asked, "Did you all want some juice before you go out for the afternoon?"

The real Harry said, "No thanks. We had juice with breakfast."

"Just be careful then. I don't want to hear that Molly has had any more trouble."

George giggled and flashed them a grin. "It will be pretty hard to get her more annoyed than she is right now. She will probably fret for hours until she gets up the nerve to spank me. Hopefully I will be back in my rightful skin before she decides to do the deed."

Sirius shook his head. "I am going to go talk to Bill for a minute and then everyone should meet downstairs. I have told Molly that she is to leave Harry alone and that him not getting to leave the house is punishment enough." He turned to leave then stopped, "And, Harry, if you want to hang out with me later when the house is quiet I have cleaned out a small room in the basement where we can practice potions. I really think we need to take the wind out of Snape's sails regarding the potion issue. It is time to practice."

After the blowup at breakfast everyone was rather subdued. Molly took Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, and the twins to the market. She wanted Bill and Charlie to stay close to her, but Bill apologized and told her that he had received an owl while he was upstairs changing into some street clothes; Gringotts wanted to see him about a job they thought he might like to take after Yuletide.

She was still a bit upset that Harry would talk to her like he had and found herself wanting to retaliate against him; however, she could put aside her animosity for her own children. "Why don't we all go over to Gringotts? I need to get some money out before we visit your father this afternoon."

The real Bill and Charlie twitched slightly. They knew their parents vault was emptied on a regular basis every month. Even with the two of them giving their parents part of their earnings, things were tight because Hogwarts tuition was expensive.

The trip to their vault was an enlightening one for the younger Weasleys. Ron, Bill, and Charlie were thoroughly humiliated to realize that their mother had just used Harry Potter's key and removed over a hundred galleons. It had not made a dent in the interest , but they were horrified that she had brazenly stold money from a boy who would have given her ten times that much had she only asked.

* * *

Harry and Sirius were having a fine time meeting with Bookgrabber and Axegrinder. They discussed what could be done to keep Sirius from going back to Azkaban, or worse-falling into Dumbledore's trap.

While they were discussing what safeguards Harry could put into place King Jareth and Sarah stopped by to visit. Sarah laughed and hugged her grandson and complimented him on looking so handsome and regal. Neither Jareth nor Sarah had aged more than a few days since they had wed. Sarah smiled and whispered, "What did you expect, Harold? We really are not that old since time moves differently in the Labyrinth."

Harry was a bit dumbfounded that they looked the same as they did some forty years ago when they wed. He also found it terribly confusing that the book said his Great-grandmother was the Goblin King's daughter.

It was Jareth who cleared up his confusion by explaining that James Potter was actually their full blooded son. James had been sent to Hogwarts because he took after the wizard side of the family. Sarah's mother was a Potter. It fit in with their plans perfectly when her oldest uncle had adopted James and raised him as his heir.

Harry was pleased to chat with them intelligently. He admitted that he had his house elf bring him his family book of shadows just yesterday and had spent most of the night reading and learning it with the help of his familiar.

Jareth admired Peridot for several minutes before giving him back to Harry. And in order to give Harry a way to communicate with him he formed a beautiful crystal ball which he secured to a fine bit of ribbon which he pulled from Sarah's hair and tied it around the little dragon's neck.

Peridot chattered happily to Jareth, thanking him for his present, and then sat back on Harry's shoulder. He could be seen admiring his present several times as the day wore on. The little dragon was definitely attracted to Chaos Magic.

After Jareth bestowed his gift on Harry/Peridot, talk returned to why he and Sirius were in the bank. It did not take Jareth long to solve the whole mystery. "You are dreaming of long hallways, punctuated with locked doors?"

"Yes."

"And does your scar hurt when you have these dreams?"

"Yes." Came out rather weaker than Harry actually wanted.

Sarah reached over and touched the scar. Immediately Harry dropped to his knees in pain and the scar started bleeding.

Jareth watched Harry struggle to stay remain awake and coherent. Finally after several deep breaths he pushed himself back up and lifted his head. The King immediately noticed that the scar was pulsing like it had a life of its own. In his experience of the magical world there was only one thing that could create such an effect: His grandson was infected with a horcrux.

He immediately called for the goblin healers that lived in the banking complex. He was thoroughly annoyed that Dumbledore would know such a thing and not try to heal Harry. Horcruxes were not exactly an unknown malady in the Wizarding world; rare but still there was a proscrobed treatement. Goblin magic was a little bit different from Wizarding magic, but since Harry was part goblin, Jareth hoped he would be able to channel the magic properly.

Sirius Black was in awe of what was happening. His best friend had been part Royal Goblin, and he was Godfather to a direct descendent of the Goblin King. It was no wonder the Marauders had been so successful; Chaos Magic was a goblin specialty and he had learned some of it from the very best and had not even known.

He snapped back to the present when Sarah elbowed him much the same way Lily used to. "Pay attention, Black. You might need to know the spells to expel a horcrux from someone later on."

He focused on the goblins as they poured a drop of Basilisk Venom onto the bleeding scar and then began a chant in gobbledygook that left his ears burning in embarrassment if the translation was correct. Roughly translated, the goblins were chanting; Tommy Riddle, remove your cross-dressing whorish spirit from the unwilling host or die from the Basilisk Venom. The only error Black could see in the whole program was the fact that the Basilisk Venom should be able to kill Harry also. Therefore it came as a surprise to him that Harry not only remained alive, the horcrux decided to decamp from its decade long abode in his head.

Harry fainted from the pain, but he managed to recover quite nicely within minutes when Sirius enervated him. Peridot even managed to catch the horcrux before it could escape and sealed it in a crystal Jareth conjured him for just such a purpose. When Harry was sufficiently recovered that he had all his senses, Sarah asked him if he felt up to destroying this horcrux the same way he had done the diary.

He blinked. "I used a basilisk fang on the diary- I stabbed it."

The healer motioned for him to listen. "We keep basilisk fangs here at the bank because we have to kill dragons sometimes if they have been fighting with each other and are beyond healing. One puncture wound works faster than wounding it further with weapons.'

He smiled. "I would love to assist you in terminating another part of the Dork Lord's plan to gain immortality." He picked up the fang and slammed it right into the heart of the crystal. Seconds later a horrible scream echoed around the tunnels until it faded. The crystal turned to dust and Harry placed the fang back in the box and brushed his hands off.

Sirius asked, "Shouldn't you be feeling just a slight bit ill seeing as you were just touching a lethally poison object?"

Harry shrugged. I don't know. I feel fine."  
Jareth explained, "That is because you were bitten by that basilisk your second year. It served as an inoculation. You received the venom and then the antidote."

Sarah glared at him. "You probably should also explain that you sent Fawkes to cry on his wound at the precise second he needed it."

Jareth smiled. "That too..."

The group was thinking about going out to get something to eat and continue their conversations when Axebiter received a memo from the ground floor of the bank. "There is a group of people in the lobby making inquiries regarding the whereabouts of William and Charles Weasley."

Sirius grimaced as he said, "I suppose we should be going. They probably want us do a bit of shopping with them." He pulled his vial of polyjuice potion out and drank it.

Jareth and Sarah watched him for a moment and then took the vial out of Harry's hand before he could drink it. Jareth ran his hand over Harry's face and watched it turn into the face of Bill Weasley without the potion. "You do not need this potion. You are a metamorpagus. All you need is the blocks taken off your magic and you will be an incredible goblin-wizard."

Harry and Sarah both wanted to jump up and down in joy at that news. For Harry to be part Royal Goblin he would have a lifespan almost ten times that of a regular wizard. It was almost guaranteed that he would eventually return to the Labyrinth and remain with his family. Harry did not know that; Sarah did. He was just pleased that he had definite proof that he really did have family.

Jareth handed him the vial. "Drink up. I will come by the house later tonight and start removing some of the blocks from everyone. I cannot do it here because I do not know just how painful it will be to you or any of the others. Black has magic suppressors on him also so I will assume that most of the people who reside in the vicinity of Albus Dumbledore have magical cores which have been tampered with.

When Harry and Sirius returned to the ground floor they both acted more tired than they really were. "Sorry to keep you waiting, Mum." Harry said. "We are not quite finished here and will have to come back tomorrow. But, thank you for waiting on us. Are you ready to go home?"

Molly huffed a bit before agreeing that she should go home. It was almost time to go to St. Mungo's and she had a lot to tell Arthur. The real Bill and Charlie, sill masquerading as the twins, also had a lot to tell Arthur. It was going to be a toss-up on who was going to get to do the talking today.

Harry was exhausted after the outing and went straight upstairs to lie down. Within minutes he was asleep.

Sirius checked on Harry once then went to his own room. There were several books he wanted to read before he next encountered certain individuals and needed to review spells to detect and remove certain spells. It was not until Jareth had removed a refined confundus charm from him that he began remembering the details of several happenings that he would have to sort through before he would be able to clear his name and become anything more than a fugitive from justice with a death warrant hanging over his head.

The first thing Molly did when she returned to the house was check with Dobby and Kreacher to make sure Harry and Sirius had not left or done anything important while she was away.

Dobby shook his head to indicate a negative response. "Harry Potter, Sir, and his dogfather stayed in their rooms. They called for tea and food once, but that was all."

She was not really convinced that the elves were telling the truth, but they had no real reason to lie to her. She would make her report to Dumbledore and that would be it. Besides, it was time for her to take the children to see their father. Maybe if Harry minded his manners she would let him go to St. Mungo's with them.

Half an hour later the children were assembled. It was a bit of a relief to everyone in the earlier outing that they were all back in their own skins. Molly looked at them and asked, "Where is Harry? I told you to tell him he could come with us."

Ron turned to look out the window as he took an unsteady breath. Bill and Charlie refused to meet their mother's eyes also. Fred and George stood behind their older brothers and kept their silence. That left only Ginny and Hermione to break the news to her that Harry would not be going out. Since Ginny did not relish her mother's anger directed at her for breaking the news, she nudged Hermione's arm and whispered, "Do you know what happened?"

Molly had managed to calm down earlier, but this set her off again. "Yes, please do tell us what happened?"

Hermione shrugged. "When you sent Bill up to tell him that if he apologized and could mind his manners that he would be allowed to go to the hospital with you he said he did not want to go. He did not feel that going to the hospital should be considered a treat for cow-towing to your demands for an apology. "

For once she managed not to shriek in anger. "He said that, did he?" Her eyes were flashing and her wand hand was twitching, but she stayed where she was although everyone present knew she wanted to go upstairs and box his ears. Finally she spoke, "Fine. We need to go see your father before visiting hours are over."

It wasn't a big surprise that Hermione went back into the sitting room rather than follow the Wesley family. She wanted to catch up with Sirius on what he and Harry had said and done while at Gringotts

The visit with Arthur did not go as well as Molly wanted it to. Bill and Charlie kept cutting her off ever time she tired to mention how vexing Harry was being. Fred and George finally took pity on them and asked Molly to take them down to the cafeteria to get some juice for Arthur.

While they were downstairs Bill told Arthur about their discussion last night, the arranged outing where they discovered that Molly was taking money from Harry's vault to fund the household expenses incurred at 12 Grimmauld Place when the Order met. He then asked, "Why does anyone except Harry even have any of his vault keys? Shouldn't he be learning how to manage his estates, Dad?"

Arthur looked up at his two oldest sons. "I don't know what all is going on. Dumbledore is playing a deep game and it is starting to scare me. There are too many things wrong with the way he is doing things for them to be a coincidence. I want you boys to talk to your brothers, Harry, and Sirius about this stuff. But, only when you are sure you are in a secure room. I am scared of what would happen to any of you if any of what we are beginning to suspect gets out."

Charlie, who had been keeping watch to make sure they were not caught off guard by the return of the rest of the family, said, "Harry announced to everyone else last night that Ron has sworn fealty to him. Mum kind of had a really bad reaction to that bit of information.. He gave her a medical check and told her to go get some rest."

Bill looked unhappy as he admitted, "When I helped her upstairs to your bedroom I obliviated her. I did not like the reaction she had to Forge explaining that it was an honor to attach ourselves to the Potter Duchy. "

Arthur smiled sadly, "That is something else we need to talk about eventually. We are purebloods dating back some four hundred years on the Weasley side. I don't know why I have not discussed with you all the ramifications of not observing the Pureblood traditions."

He would have said more but Charlie raised his voice slightly and asked, "Mum, do you need any help with that box you are carrying?"

And that was the end of that particular discussion. The boys finally relented and let Molly tell Arthur how Harry had misbehaved. She was shocked when he nodded his approval of what Harry had said. "Why are you approving of his behavior, Arthur?" She asked.

The Weasley Patriarch exhibited incredibly good persuasive skills as he explained that Harry needed to be given more responsibility and less firm guidance. With him being the Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter he should have begun training to handle himself and his estate long before now.

Molly opened her mouth and started to say, "Professor Dumbledore..."

That was as far as she got before he tapped her on the chin and spoke. "Molly, Love, I want you stop and think about how our life used to be and how it is now. Ever since Harry Potter has started attending Hogwarts Professor Dumbledore has been interfering directly in his life to the point that the boy can barely breathe on his own. Think about how often he came to the Burrow before Ron's first year. He is constantly dropping by to mention something to us since then."

Molly sat back and looked at him. "Arthur, I have thought about it- a lot. The reason Dumbledore watches Harry so closely is because he is afraid he will go dark. We need Harry to fight for the Light when the time comes."

Arthur shook his head. "Not good enough. We need to be able to answer questions without quoting what Dumbledore says. Do you remember when Ron and the twins brought Harry over to our house the summer before his second year?"

Molly smiled. "Of course I remember. Albus left him stay at the Burrow because he wanted Harry to meet and get used to Ginerva. He arranged a marriage contract between them and wanted the two of them to consummate the bond as soon as possible. Part of the terms of the contract are that Harry pays for Ginerva's tuition and fees at school, and all she has to do is remain a virgin until after he gets at least one heir and a spare if possible."

Everyone in the room was horrified; mostly for different reasons. Arthur was about to have a stroke because Dumbledore had the audacity to draw Molly into his plots without consulting him. All five sons were horrified at the extent of the Headmaster's meddling in Harry's life, and Ginny was completely terrified because she had forgotten that little detail regarding her virginity. Dean and Michael, she knew would remain silent on the issue of premarital sex, she wasn't too sure about a few of the other boys...

The silence was almost ready to become completely intolerable when Bill looked over at Ginny and began laughing. There could only be one reason she was pale as death warmed over and hyperventilating. "You broke the contract didn't you, Gin? You forgot that clause about keeping yourself pure before marriage and you have been spreading yourself around Hogwarts, haven't you?"

She couldn't manage to speak, but her huge teary brown eyes said it all.

Fred and George looked at each other. "Maybe we should cancel that prank we had scheduled on Harry for embarrassing Ginny last night when she reached for his arm."

"Yes, brother, after all he was only providing us with more information regarding the happenings at Hogwarts. "

Arthur shook his head in frustration. "I will see what I can do about this mess when I get out of the hospital."

Molly did not open her mouth this time. She just knew if she admitted that his hospital bills were being paid from Harry Potter's trust vault that Arthur would have a stroke and never recover. She was also starting to rethink her position as an active member of the Order of the Phoenix. Harry was not the only one whom Dumbledore was dealing bad cards to. She had seen him cast a few spells at Sirius Black that had not been necessary.

Back at the house things were much more peaceful. Hermione finally gravitated upstairs to Harry and Ron's room and sat on Ron's bed to watch Harry sleep. She wanted so badly to help him fix all his problems so that he could be a normal boy. She had enjoyed that kiss in the broom closet yesterday and would have liked to share a few more with him. She knew though with a certainty borne of being a muggleborn that she would have no chance with him. His destiny was too divergent from hers. She would spend her life as a moon in his orbit and that would have to be enough for the Harry/Hermione relationship. Her previous idea of trying to attract Charlie Weasley might even be flying too high...

Harry was magic sensitive enough that Hermione sitting there on the other bed dejectedly going over her life was enough to wake him. He was beginning to think that people were never going to leave him alone. He desperately wanted to think through meeting his grandparents and the conversation that ensued. He waited until Hermione left before sitting up and calling softly for Peridot.

The little dragon popped into the room a few seconds after Harry called. "What bothers you, my friend?" The dragon's mental voice asked.

"I just wanted someone around who wants me for myself. It gets lonely being the Boy-who-lived, Peridot. I feel like you are the only one who wants to be with me and not want anything from me except what I can give you."

The dragon cheeped and cocked his head to the side as he thought about Harry's problem. Then he reached up with his little claw like fingers and pulled the ribbon off of his neck. He handed Harry the Magic ball that Jareth had created and handed it to him.

"What does it do?" Harry whispered in awe at the fact his pet would give up his prized possession in order to make Harry happy.

"It shows us our dreams." Peridot's voice seemed to be human; it was so emotional and distraught that it evoked all sorts of images in Harry's mind.

He held the sphere in his cupped hands and looked at it. He could see the chaos magic swirling around in it and thought fleetingly that it looked like a miniature crystal ball.

He heard Peridot's voice in his head. "Of course it is like a crystal ball. It is a crystal ball much like the ones used in fortune telling. The difference is how the two are put together. A regular crystal ball is made using traditional muggle means. This crystal that King Jareth gave you was formed by summoning a crystal and then infusing it with chaos magic. It is up to you to bend the chaos to your will. It is activated more by emotion than a stray thought."

Harry sat there on the bed clutching the ball and just gazing at it. Mostly his thoughts were of what the war had reduced him to. He wanted to be a person in his own right, not just an object that became a means to an end. Eventually his thoughts turned to the kiss he had initiated in the broom closet earlier. It had been a pleasant kiss, and there had been plenty of attraction, but there had not been a fire that roared out of control.

Harry was analyzing the manufactured passion that he and Hermione had conjured. There had been a spiraling excitement in his stomach as his mouth travelled over sweet clean skin. The scent of that skin registered as something between taste and smell, bewitching the senses slightly, but not actually ensnaring them.

Harry sat on the bed rocking slightly as he imagined what would completely consume him to the point he immersed himself in raw passion. Everyone around assumed that he would find a beautiful red haired witch and settled down to raise babies like his father had done with his mother. He found himself smirking at the idea that he would want a woman. His Aunt Petunia and His Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge, had put him off women ages ago. He would rather die a virgin than mount a female who reminded him of either of those two. He found that the more he looked at females, the more he saw the two of them as fairly typical of the species. Hermione had been kissable because he knew her. She held no threat to him; she also held no surprises.

So the image in the ball began to form. Peridot settled down around the back of Harry's neck and watched the crystal avidly. He knew that Harry was off in some other world and had no idea that the ball was showing him his fondest wish. The dragon watched it unblinkingly, memorizing every detail so that he could return to the Underworld and help the boy's grandfather search for his mate.

The images in the ball were twirling around on the dance floor. Harry was dressed in traditional male formal wear, but he was definitely moving within the embrace of another man. The man was not incredibly tall, probably only about five feet nine inches tall, but he seemed tall because of all the other people being much smaller. The man was thin and hungry looking like the Malfoy men, his face had the sharp points that defined Draco's face, platinum blond hair that was typical of Viking descendents, and the incredibly glacial blue eyes.

Peridot searched through his incredible inherited memory banks and came up with a name and a time period. The image shocked him so badly that he gave a strangled squawk and blinked out of existence.

Harry woke from his trance and looked directly at the ball. Since his train of thought had not really been broken the ball did not clear and he watched the two of them dance, converse, and finally slip outside the doors unto the balcony where the blond moved to stand so that he sheltered Harry from the wind blowing around the corner of Hogwarts. He imagined himself moving closer to the man and whispering his name, "Sterling?"

Sterling would bend his head slightly so that when Harry rose up on tiptoe their mouths would meet and fuse together. Harry imagined the taste of Sterling's mouth to be of the mulled wine they had sipped together from the same cup. Sterling would not taste of anything different and unique until Harry's mouth travelled from his mouth, across his jaw, and then down his neck.

Harry remembered the frantic fluttering of Hermione's pulse as his tongue laved across it. His body tightened and his breathing grew ragged as his eyes once more drifted shut and his imagination led him to complete happiness within the moment. He never felt the shift as his grandfather froze the image in the ball and switched it with another so that he could take it away and study the man's image.

Jareth believed his grandson's familiar and trusted him completely. What the Goblin King really wanted to establish was if there was a meeting of souls between the two closer in time than an thousand years ago. Reordering time for a person was not too terribly difficult because he was extremely powerful and talented. The problem was that he would have to employ the element of chaos and it had a habit of refusing to be precise sometimes.

The week before the children were to return to school, Sirius handed Harry a mirror and explained that it was in fact a two way mirror that he and James had created when they were in school so that they could keep in contact with each other while serving separate detentions. All Harry had to do was look in the mirror and speak the name, Padfoot. That would cause the mirror Padfoot carried to vibrate and he would know that Harry was calling him. They did a few tests to make sure the magics on the mirrors were holding properly and then it was time for Harry to leave.

It did not take long for Hermione to find out about the mirror and insisted that she needed a set also. It would come in handy for talking to her parents as well as keeping track of the boys. Hermione got her mirrors. Since she got a set of mirrors Sirius decided that he would charm at least two more; Draco would need one and Ron should probably have one of his own.

* * *

A/N: I really appreciate my reviewers and if you have questions please don't hesitate to ask. And, yes, Perky, I shall add a naked Snape, tied up, and.... Wouldn't he make a smashing subject for the role reversal in the movie, **9 and 1/2 Weeks**?


	6. Contracts, Curses, and Mutiny

Disclaimers: Please and thank you for referring to chapter 1.

Sources of inspiration include, but are not limited to: Harry Potter Series, **Book Dragon**, **Labyrinth; the Movie**, **Faeiries;** **the movie**, and any number of other fanfiction authors. If you recognize something as yours please let me know and if I agree with your claim I will list you also.

* * *

The train ride back was actually more fun than it had been at the beginning of the year. Harry, having read the **Potter Book of Shadows**, seemed to have come into his own. Quite figuretively, there was more to him than there had been previously. Of course there were several reasons for his changes: The Potter Book, The Black Pensive, Jareth removing spells from him...oh, it had been a very busy Yuletide season. Most of the children who saw him on the train were mystified and intrigued at the change in him.

What had the Potter book done? There was a reason curses had been put on most of the old family books. The Potter book was one such book, and having read it, Harry's life had been rearranged. Potter men made it a habit to marry intelligent women and produce powerful children whose capacities were then enhanced by the liberal use of potions and spells. Harry, knowing what he was up against, could do no less.

The second cause of drastic change had been the Black Family Pensive. The Black Family Pensive was as much a general repository of knowledge as an important part of the Black Legacy. The Pensive gave a credible recounting of several important events throughout the last thousand years. Sirius took Harry with him and they reviewed several hundred memories that the Blacks had stored in it since the creation of the first pensive. Harry learned massive amounts of information regarding how magic came into the world and how to use it properly.

He also learned some extremely intresting facts regarding half-bloods and mudbloods. Hermione was going to be one totally conflicted woman when things were explained to her.

The final direct result of Harry's changed attitude was the removal of several spells from him: spells that attacked his health, inhibited his magical growth, inhibited his physical growth, blocked access to his magical core, and even a recent one that dampened his healer's abilities. By the time Jareth removed the spell that inhibited Harry's healing abilities, magic was flaring from both men and they made a blood pact on the spot that they would 'reward in kind' the caster of that spell.

Before Harry left Gringotts Medical Ward, Jareth also gifted him with a larger ball of Chaos Magic. Jareth then asked him to use the ball on a regular basis like one does a crystal ball. Using it on a regular basis should help him establish a connection with his soul mate.

Harry had blinked and looked up at his grandfather, "Why do I need to find my soul mate?"

"Because your grandmother has seen something in your future and insists that you will need your soul mate. She insists that you cannont go forward, but will be able to go back in time to him. You will need him beside you to fulfill your destiny."

* * *

Draco was waiting outside the doors for him when he arrived. One look at the black haired boy and he decided to keep everything short while in public. "Good Day, Cousin." And he inclined his head in a pureblood bow.

Harry reached for the door only to have Crabbe and Goyle open both doors for him and Hermione. They paused slightly at Draco's formality and returned the greeting: "Good day to you too, Cousin. Is all well?"

Draco spoke, "yes, all is well. Mother sends her regards."

Harry said, "Lovely, we will speak with you later." And then he was inside the Great Hall where almost everyone was staring at him having witnessed the tail enof of the encounter with Draco Malfoy.

Albus Dumbledore watched the encounter with no small bit of interest. Potter had changed, that was obvious. Malfoy had also changed, but not to such a startling degree. It was almost like Potter had come into his inheritance early. It would behoove him to get answers to his questions as soon as possible. He waited until Harry had seated Hermione at the table and was just moving to take a seat also when he stood up and motioned for Harry to join him.

Harry hissed in displeasure at being called up to the office before the school had even settled down to eat their dinner. This had to be some kind of a record. Hungry and not a little bit disgruntled that he was to get no rest before facing the man, he made his way upstairs after reading the summons.

Harry did not feel like playing Dumbledore's guessing game for the password and refused to divulge the secret that would move the gargoyle without it. After asking the gargoyle if it would move since he had an appointment with the headmaster, he merely sat down and waited to see who would access the stair well for him since the stone did not move. Fifteen minutes later he got up and went back down stairs to the Great Hall.

Harry returned to the Great Hall twenty minutes after he had been asked by Dumbledore to go straight to his office and wait for him to find the man addressing the student body regarding the rumors of Harry going dark over the holidays. He stood in the shadows and listened to the old man prattle on about Harry taking his pureblood responsibilities seriously and had begun training for his future. He concluded his speech with the announcement, "On a happier note, Mr. Potter has asked me to make the announcement that as is the custom of the Potter family, he has picked his bride, Ms. Ginerva Molly Weasley, and they will wed after he completes his education here.

The Gryffindor table erupted in noise with everyone shouting at the same time. Ginny had squealed in excitement and immediately became the center of attention.

Harry waited until Dumbledore sat down and stepped forward while clapping his hands and bowing. He stopped right in front of the Headmaster and gave one more bow before speaking, "That, Sir, was an excellent speech. I do think though that you need to stand up and tell everyone that while it sounded good, the whole speech was wishful thinking on the part of an old man."

Dumbledore didn't miss a beat, "Harry, my boy, where have you been? I just made the announcement of your betrothal to Miss Weasley as the contract requires."

Harry shook his head in disgust. "No, Headmaster, you did not make an announcement that any contract which is legally binding on my part required. You made up a bunch of clap-trap garbage and spewed it out in a totally inappropriate manner. Now please stand up and correct the error of your words. That whole speech you just made regarding me was utter tripe."

Albus refused to back down. "Harry, I am your magical guardian. I know what I am talking about. Now, go sit down and have some of this delicious feast. We can discuss this further after everyone has had a good meal and a decent night's rest."

"NO!" Was roared. "I will not sit down and take this crap. You are not my legal guardian, my magical guardian, or anything other than the Headmaster of Hogwarts when discussing anything that pertains to my life."

Everyone stopped eating and began to stare avidly at Harry.

"You will sit and do as you are told." Albus was struggling to control his temper. He knew that if he lost this argument he would lose most of the prestige and honors he had garnered during his long life as a public servant.

"I bloody well won't!" Harry hissed. "I am not about to accept your dictates. The fact is that you feel you have the right to meddle in my life to the point where you not only steal my family's fortune; you are disregarding my status as OLD Blood and are trying to marry me off to a two-bit whore. And you are doing all of that so that you can steal my very soul and make me a martyr in your fight with the Dark Lord Tom Riddle."

"That is not true." Albus's voice trembled as he denied Harry's allegations.

Harry refused to accept his feeble attempt to manipulate him into feeling guilty. "I have had enough of you ordering my life to suit you and a few beneficiaries who have no legal right to my largess. I maintain that you are not my magical guardian, and have no right to make contracts on my behalf." He whirled around so that he could see most of the students before adding, "And furthermore, I have never received any extra training from the headmaster of this school that would enable me to defeat Voldemort. Everyone knows that he is back, has been back for over seven months, and this is the first time I have even heard mention of training."

"Harry, I must ask you once again to take your seat. Everything being done is for the greater good and I ask you to accept that."

Harry gave him a smile of pure evil. "I will take my place at the feast with everyone under one condition."

"You are not in a position to set conditions." Snape snapped. "Now go sit down, foolish boy."

The glare Harry spared Snape lasted less time than a heartbeat before he snarled, "I will be coming for you, Snape, and when I do there will be an accounting for several things. Make no mistake your precious ass belongs to me and I will have my due." Then he returned his attention to Albus Dumbledore.

Albus smiled benevolently at Harry. "What would you have me do, Harry? What proof do you need that I care for you as my own child?"

Harry couldn't help muttering, "Heaven help your family." Of course everyone heard him.

A pained look darted across the old man's face. "What is your condition?"

Harry threw his head back and looked the Headmaster full in the eyes as he stated clearly for everyone to hear, "I want you to swear a Wizard's Oath regarding me that you have never intentionally benefitted from placing me with the Dursleys, that you did not deliberately contrive to keep me ignorant of the Wizarding world before I received my Hogwarts letter, and that you receive no benefits from controlling my estates to include Wizengamot seats, voting and social privileges, access to my libraries and family heirlooms, and direct..."

Dumbledore's face was a study of fury. "Get to your seat, boy!" He roared. "You insult me beyond the pale of common decency."

Harry stood there and watched him. "And you lie, cheat, and manipulate so much that you no longer know what the boundaries of decency are. Now swear the Oath or back off and let my true guardian do his job."

Severus was having too much fun at this point so he chimed in again, "Who is your true guardian, Potter? It would not happen to be the convicted mass murderer, Sirius Black, would it?"

Harry smiled, "That is the rumor, Potions Master Snape. The only problem is that Sirius Black was sent to prison without a trial so there is no proof that he is guilty. And the Head of the Wizengamot, Headmaster Dumbledore, here, knows that Black spent twelve years in Azkaban for a crime he did not commit, and left him there when he could have proved his innocence."

McGonagall was angry on behalf of the Headmaster and snarled her question, "What do you mean, Potter, that Albus could have proven Black innocent?"

Harry looked at her and asked, "Woman, are you stupid? He is the head of the Wizengamot. He could have called a session at any time and gave evidence that he was the person to cast the fidelus charm on my parents cottage; that Peter Pettigrew was their secret keeper, not Sirius Black; and, since he witnessed my parents will he could have executed it properly and sent me to live with Mrs. Longbottom and Neville instead of to the Dursley residence where I was beaten, starved, and treated like a house elf."

Minerva was so choked with rage at the way Harry had deliberately destroyed her old friend's reputation that she raised her wand and spoke without thinking, "nous verrons ce que nous verrons!

Normally saying 'we shall see what we shall see' in French would not be a deadly bad idea. However, most people do not go around waving wands while they are shouting. Even when they do, most people aren't 'magical' enough to effect a change if they do spout such portentousness. Minerva met the requirements for intent and power; since there was a focus, magic was summoned. In her self-righteous anger she had cast a spell that invoked magic to do what it wished regardless of crime and punishment.

Harry felt a spell hit him and his eyes flew open wide. He stared at McGonagall in horror and noticed that she was returning the favor. He felt his blood boiling under his skin but did not have a voice to scream with, and then the world went dark for him.

All of the Gryffindors glared at Minerva as stood there watching Harry fight whatever curse magic would see fit to place on him. It was obvious that he was in the grips of some terrible pain; pain that would probably change his life completely. She was fascinated to see his back arch in an unimaginable agony, mouth open in a silent scream, the rest of his limbs were rigid to the point that if someone touched them they might snap from the pressure.

Then a funny thing happened as the sun dipped completely behind the horizon. Harry twitched one last time and lay completely still. Hermione rushed to him side as Poppy Pomfrey, the schools medi-witch, rushed around the seats to get to him. The rest of the teachers at the head table turned back to their food after Dumbledore stood and called for silence. "Mr. Potter has not suffered any ill effects from Minerva's outburst so we shall continue with our meal."

Poppy stood up and glared at the Headmaster and his Deputy. "I shall be filing charges of child abuse against both of you before I go to bed tonight. Don't try obliterating my memory or any of the students either. There is something terribly wrong with Harry Potter and you will not walk away from this unscathed."

Even Dolores Umbridge, the Ministry approved Defense against the Dark Arts teacher was feeling a bit of fear after listening to Poppy. She felt that it was in the best interest of the school though that she should make some sort of noise. "Healer Pomfrey, is it really necessary to get the Ministry and the Board of Governors involved in a small discipline issue?"

Poppy stood up straight once she saw that Hermione had Harry under control. "I will be having a few things to say about you also, you miserable excuse for a human. I have seen the results of more than one of your detentions carved into the children's hands. Don't think for one minute you are going to walk away from here unscathed. I know about your little penchant for using blood quills because I was let in on that secret just before school broke up for the holidays."

Dolores slumped back in her chair and sat there. She knew she was in trouble if she did not do something about the situation. She supposed she would have to brazen it out until she was alone and had a chance to run. She just prayed to Merlin that she would have a chance to escape. Either that or she was going to have to cut a deal with Dumbledore and McGonagall in order to keep her own precious arse out of Azkaban.

It was an amazing sight to see all of the students sitting there quietly watching the teachers. Snape was the first teacher to stand and address the problem of what was to be done until Aurors could take statements from everyone. "If Slytherin would please stand, we can proceed to our common room."

Draco Malfoy was the first one on his feet. Others started to rise, but he waved his hand for them to remain seated. "Sir, with all due respect to you, we would prefer to remain right here where we can stay together and watch each other's back. I don't want to be obliviated before I can speak to the Aurors."

Snape huffed, "Mr. Malfoy, I must ask you to reconsider. It will get terribly uncomfortable rather quickly."

"I must insist, Sir. Lord Potter-Black is the Head of two noble houses and he has been abused in the one place he should have been safe. He is my cousin by rights of adoption, and my Brother-in-Arms according to the standard agreements between House Malfoy and House Black. I will not leave here until I have spoken to the correct people regarding the happenings of this evening and the incident with Umbridge and her blood quills." Then the little sot smirked and added, "Just wait until my father hears about this."

It may not have been funny, but it had everyone around him howling with laughter.

Snape bowed slightly and acknowledged Draco's right to mutiny. "It is your right. What say the rest of you?"

The rest of Slytherin House stood and bowed gracefully to their Head of House. The Head Boy, a Slytherin whom everyone seemed to like, spoke for the table. "Sir, we stand with our brother, Draco, and his kin. We shall remain here until the Aurors have spoken to all of us and takes sworn statements which can not be tampered with."

The other three houses sat there in shock while the Slytherins rebelled, but they had been quiet until Ronald Weasley stood up. They then became deathly still as they waited to see what he would do. He bowed to those at his table and then approached the Slytherin table. Everyone in the hall was surprised when he reached out and grasped Draco's hand while wrapping his other arm around the blond's shoulder in a manly hug. His voice was not loud at all but everyone heard him. "Thank you for standing with House Potter and House Black. House Malfoy, we recognize that we owe you a debt of gratitude and will endeavor to repay your kindness in like."

To say that the teachers were shocked was an understatement. Especially when Draco accepted Ron's hand and hug and returned it. They were even more shocked to hear Draco say, "Welcome back to the Old Ways, Vassal Weasley."

Together, hands still joined, they raised them above their heads so that there would be no mistaking the fact that there was a joining. Smiling at each other then turning to face everyone around them, both boys repeated the Wizarding Oath of Fidelity. "Peace and prosperity through justice and unity." Their voices carried through the Great Hall and was picked up by the rest of the students.

Headmaster Dumbledore was sitting there with tears flowing down his face a few minutes later when a whole squadron of Aurors led by Amelia Bones herself knocked at the castle doors and demanded entrance. Professor Flitwick was the one to step forward and welcome the Aurors to the castle. All of the teachers were present, but they were not actually processing all that was going on around them.

Amelia decided to start with the younger children first so that they could get to bed. With twenty Aurors working diligently they managed to get the last of the children to bed around three in the morning. It was frustrating work because several of the younger ones were adamant that Gryffindor's Head of House had intended serious bodily harm to Harry Potter and they did not want to go up to the tower where she might do the same thing to them.


	7. Is Molly a spare?

Disclaimers: Please and thank you for referring to chapter 1.

Sources of inspiration include, but are not limited to: Harry Potter Series, **Book Dragon**, **Labyrinth; the Movie**, **Faeiries;** **the movie**, and any number of other fanfiction authors. If you recognize something as yours please let me know and if I agree with your claim I will list you also.

* * *

Harry did not wake up until the sun's first rays began to peek in the window of the infirmary. At the first touch of sun on his skin he jerked awake with an agonized scream that woke Hermione from where she had been lying on the bed next to him dozing and Madam Pomfrey who had been resting on the couch in her office. They both rushed to help the screaming boy and watched in amazement as his skin began to turn black and form into scales. By the time the sun was fully up a beautiful little Welsh Black dragon was crouched on the bed where Harry Potter had spent the night.

Hermione was totally amazed at the sight of her best friend turning into a dragon. He made a stunning dragon too. From the tip of his nose to the end of his tail he was probably just over two meters tall with a wing span that would probably open at five meters wide. She could not help but reach toward him, "Harry, are you alright? You are beautiful. You have turned into a Welsh Black."

Dragon Harry looked at her and warbled a greeting. His huge green eyes glittered in confusion, but he did not seem to be too upset.

Hermione smiled at him. "Harry, nod your head if you understand me."

The dragon bobbed his head.

"Good. You have kept your mind." She watched him blink rapidly at that statement. "Well, at least you have your mind right now, yes?"

He nodded again.

"Are you feeling OK? Is there anything I can help you with?" Hermione's concern was genuine. She could not help reaching out and stroking one of the horns growing on the side of his head.

With a bit of concentration Harry found that he could use a form of telepathy that he usually used with Peridot to communicate.

Hermione laughed when the image of piles of food popped into her head. She turned to Poppy and said, "I think he will be OK. He says he is just hungry right now."

Poppy hurried over and pulled out her wand to do another scan before he could leave the hospital. She stopped and dropped into the chair beside the bed and burst out giggling when the image of her as a Norwegian Ridgeback Medi-dragon popped into her head. She finally managed to contain her amusement long enough to shake her head at Harry and say, "It is nice to know you are still the cheeky little bugger you were last night."

Everyone in the Great Hall eating breakfast was totally shocked to see Hermione Granger calmly walk in and make her way to the Gryffindor table with a dragon clicking along beside her. Harry had been absolutely adorable as he flexed his wings lightly and hopped off the bed. Images of sausages and bacon danced in her head as he pattered across to the door and chirped lightly in inquiry as she just stood there watching him. It had not taken her long to realize that this was still Harry.

She really did do her best to keep a straight face as she charmed the bench at the end of the table to accommodate the dragon. She tapped his plate and enlarged it to proper platter size before levitating several dishes his way so that he could select what he wanted. Hermione blinked and smiled happily at him as he took about twice as much food as he normally ate, poured half a pitcher of maple syrup on it and began to delicately eat using his knife and fork.

Ron watched the production for several minutes with his mouth hanging open and half masticated food visible. He then proceeded to choke and have a coughing fit when Hermione turned to him and sweetly said, "Look, Ron, even dragons have better table manners than you do."

There was no denying it, Ron was busted. The whole Gryffindor table exploded in laughter at that exchange. One could only wonder why Ron insisted on eating like a starving heathen, it probably had something to do with his attention seeking proclivities. Everyone was happy to leave it to Hermione to deal with him.

The natural curiosity of the little Gryffindors could not be repressed for long though. The dragon did not appear to be hostile so obviously it was a Gryffindor who was laboring under a spell gone awry. The peace was broken by Seamus Finnigan's younger brother. "Hermione, how long will Harry stay a dragon?"

"We don't know yet, Liam."  
A different first year asked, "Is Harry a dragon because of Professor McGonagall's spell?"

"Yes, Draven, he is a dragon because of the spell. "

"Will he stay like this?"

The questions began to blend together until most of the students had satisfied their curiosity. It was not until one of the first year girls began sobbing that she wanted to go home because she didn't want to be turned into a dragon when she got a teacher upset that everyone decided it was time to go to class.

That night when Harry turned back into a human everyone was totally excited. McGonagall was called and she rushed in, apologized profusely to him, and then broke down crying and rushed away. The next day when he returned to class as a dragon she fussed at him and demanded that he return to his human form.

Harry shook his head and pointed to Hermione. He left it up to her to explain to everyone that the curse he was currently under fell into the Swan Princess Category. He would be a dragon by day and a human by night. Since the spell was reversed on him, nights when there was a full moon, he would remain as a dragon.

Then to make matters worse for Harry, the spell also wanted him to be the submissive if the conditions for breaking the spell were ever met. His human form had 'shifted' slightly. He was still definitely a male; however, he seemed to have become finer boned; definitely more delicate in appearance. Harry had been a handsome man in the making; now he was absolutely breathtaking in his perfection. The only reason they could figure was because the dragon part of him was an elegant androgynous creature of extreme beauty.

* * *

Harry Potter as a dragon was a concept that most everyone accepted as a matter of course over the next few weeks. One of the up sides to being a dragon was the fact that he could actually get into Voldemort's mind even with the horcrux gone. Harry marveled at the fact that Voldemort's mind was strangely empty of anything except pain and destruction. He often found himself visiting the older mage's mind just to mess with him. He had the urge to fill his mind with extreme experiences.

Voldie had no idea that it was Harry invading his private moments and causing him to crave Godiva chocolates, hot wings, and watermelon. It therefore stood to reason that when he summoned Lucius, Bella, and Severus to play twister and dance the Macarena with him that it was just something he thought of. Never having been exposed to these ideas before did not cause him to be suspicious of any extra-cerebral activity. He assumed that it was his right as a Dark Lord to expand his horizons by experiencing different aspects of muggle culture with his very best friends.

Harry decided to write it into his mission statement that he was to improve the quality of life of his favorite dark lord by educating him on how to amuse himself without causing undue pain and suffering. Hexing Bella because she refused to play Chinese Jump rope with him was not part of the 'undue pain and suffering thing'. Harry actually had fun describing that one to Neville.

He also used the boys to help him formulate experiences for Voldie. To date Harry's favorite idea had been a collection of clichés for Valentine's Day. It was going to be a long day so Harry made sure to get plenty of rest the night before. The actual day saw Voldie dragging his three favorite magical friends out to Wales to do some snowboarding on Snowdon in the morning, lunch would be...

Severus Snape snapped. "I will be damned if I take tea with you at Madam Puddifoots! Just go ahead and crucio me now!"

Voldemort retreated to his lair and pouted for several hours before he got even with Severus for making him feel bad. Harry had him put an ad in the Daily Prophet for a new Potions Master with Death Eater leanings since Severus Snape had been fired.

Snape could be heard screaming into the floo that he used in the dungeons, "You can't fire me. I quit ages ago only you are too stupid to figure it out!" To distract him from his homicidal urge to get even, Draco made Harry, Ron, Neville, Seamus, Dean, and the rest of the Slytherin Fifth year boys knock on the door to his laboratory and announce they were there for their lesson.

Snape purred in his sexiest Death Eater voice, "What lesson are you imbeciles referring to?"

Draco chirped happily, "We are here to learn how to make lube. Since most of us are sixteen already and the other few will celebrate soon, Dumbledore sent us down to you learn about..."

"Learn about what, Mr. Malfoy?"

Harry, having turned back into a human some minutes ago clarified, "Oh, we're here to learn the 'ins' and 'outs' of sex from you since you are so good at it."

A horny Snape is a happy Snape in some instances. This particular instance involved him being quite pleased with himself for teaching another generation of filthy little perverts how to brew and use several potions that were dead useful when engaging in sexual activities. And he did not discriminate between male and female functions and uses...

* * *

Time kept slipping away as Harry spent his days as a dragon and his nights as a human. It was an odd situation and he didn't really feel any differences in his magic from day to day. The positive part of the situation was that he no longer had detentions with Umbridge. He couldn't help but wish that Umbridge would have detentions with the dementors in Azkaban, but she had managed to make a deal with Dumbledore.

Which brought Harry to the next sore point; Dumbledore was still the Headmaster. The Auror corps had taken all the statements from everyone and the Headmaster's sins were well documented, but he had not been removed from office because no one else wanted the job.

On the bright side of everything was the fact that with all the testimony being given regarding the various sins at Hogwarts, Sirius Black had been cleared in the wrongful death of James and Lily Potter. Sirius had even validated all the pensive memories that Ron, Hermione, Harry, Snape and Dumbledore had provided.

That was one of the reasons Dumbledore had retained his job as headmaster. He had kept an innocent man from being kissed by the dementors when he provided a way for the children to help Black escape. He was lauded by most as a hero for the cause of truth and justice over the plan; no one seemed to really want to look below the surface of that particular scenario to answer a few questions. Questions like: Why would the Headmaster allow the children out a second time when he knew a werewolf was loose on the grounds? Or, why did he let them out when he knew there was a desperate escaped killer running around out there? Or, why send children out when he knew there was a full hive of dementors hovering around? And, what was it with the crazed ministry worker out there carrying an axe?

Even with all these questions the real kicker as far as Harry was concerned was: If Dumbledore was such a sticker for truth and justice, why did he not start proceedings to clear Sirius Black as soon as he learned that there had been miscarriage of justice? Why had an innocent man been sent to Azkaban for twelve years without even being allowed a trial? The most damning piece of evidence he had regarding Dumbledore's duplicity was that Dumbledore had not executed the Potter Will according to the terms and provisions set forth in it. The will clearly stated that Peter Pettigrew was the Potter's secret keeper and Albus Dumbledore was the one to cast the Fidelus charm for them.

* * *

Harry was perfectly happy to remain a dragon by day and a boy at night since one of the results was that Sirius was now a free man. He was not dumb enough to believe that the only reason Sirius had been cleared was that several people gave testimony on his behalf. It was more of a case that Harry's sacrifice provided a sympathetic atmosphere for his case to be heard. There was also the fact that Sirius did not take any more chances that the British Ministry of Magic would provide a fair trial for him and with the help of the Goblins, he made his way to France and petitioned the French Ministry of Magic for a hearing.

The school year was finally drawing to a close and Harry was quite happy to see things winding down. He had taken his OWLs with the rest of the class, and due to the fact that he no longer had Quidditch practice, he had done quite well. He actually enjoyed his dragon form most of the time because the dragon was much better organized than he was, had a better memory retention, and dragon had better handwriting because Hermione provided him with a biro that had been charmed to never run out of ink.

Things were going quite excellently until the day Harry managed to shift his dragon shape to the size of a dragonfly and flew in the Headmaster's open window because the Sorting Hat had sent him a message that it wanted to speak with him at approximately five o'clock. He had just flown in the window and crawled under the Hat's brim when the door opened and Dumbledore returned. Hat immediately whispered in Harry's head to be quiet and pay attention. The reason Hat wanted him to come visit was about to take place.

Harry watched Albus smile contentedly as he surveyed his kingdom, or at least his turf. He puttered around the room for a few minutes until he heard the unmistakable chime of the floo network activating. Harry huddled under the hat and prayed that no one would notice him.

A few seconds later Molly Weasley stepped through. "You needed to see me, Headmaster?" She asked.

"Yes, my dear. It is quite important too. I need you to do a job for me."

Molly smiled. "I would be happy to help you, Albus. What do you need done?"

The old man pulled out his wand and cast the **_Imperious_** on her before she knew what was happening. "I need you to go to go to 12 Grimmauld Place and kill Sirius Black. You will put this powder in the pot when you make the tea. I think you should drink the tea also."

Molly gave him a vacant stare as she reached out and took the potion from him. "Yes, Albus. Do you need anything else, Albus?"

He looked her up and down as if he were going to ask more of her, but the Sorting Hat spoke, "Albus, there seems to be a disturbance out on the Quidditch pitch. You might want to get out there."

The Headmaster nodded and took off out the door.

As soon as he cleared the stairs, the hat spoke to Fawkes. "Old friend, we need to get this woman out of here. I don't know that that old man is playing at, but something is not right when he is actively trying to kill people. "

Fawkes trilled and the hat agreed. Fawkes picked up the hat with Harry still clinging to the brim and placed it on Molly's head. He then latched his claws into her shoulder and flamed away from the office. They appeared in the kitchen at 12 Grimmauld Place seconds later.

Sirius was sitting at the table eating a late dinner when Molly arrived via the phoenix. "To what do I owe the honor of your visit, Mrs. Weasley?" He asked.

Hat spoke before Molly could manage to say anything. "You need to reverse the _**Imperious**_ that Albus cast on Molly before she can tell you everything."

Sirius Black had seen lots of things during his time as an Auror even if it was a short career. He had not exactly sat by idly. Before the hat finished speaking he had pulled his new wand and cast a **_Finite Incantatum._**

He was not really prepared for Molly to begin sobbing hysterically. The only coherent thing he got from her was, "Arthur," before she began sobbing again. He called for Kreacher to pour her a sniffer of brandy and went to the fireplace to locate Arthur.

Molly was totally plastered drinking the French brandy that Kreacher kept plying her with by the time Arthur was located and arrived at the house. The only good thing about her state of mind was the fact that she was a good drunk. She was hugging Winky, the house elf, and crying about going to visit Albus because he asked her to come talk to him and then he did that to her.

The sun had already set and Harry was back to being a human by the time Arthur sobered his wife up well enough to deal with her rationally. To say he was angry was an understatement when Molly told him that Albus had fire-called her and asked if she could drop by around three o'clock that afternoon because he had something important to speak with her about. It had been a horrifying experience that she never wished to repeat.

Arthur and Sirius were both ready to go terminate his existence when Molly choked up and refused to explain why. Harry told them that Hat had sent word by Fawkes that he wanted to speak with him and he had been there to witness the whole meeting. Neither man was pleased to hear that Molly had been Imperioed and then told to kill Sirius and herself at the same time. His face turned red when he admitted that Dumbledore had also expressed an interest in her body, but that Hat had interrupted his plan before he could become amorous.

Before they could do something stupid, Harry came up with the perfect plan. He would gather a few of the other kids together and head off to the Department of Mysteries to save Sirius who had been captured by Death Eaters and was being held as bait for Harry to show up and rescue him. Harry would have Draco help by getting his dad to minimize damage to the students and in return they would all listen to the prophecy. Sirius and Molly would sneak into the Department of Mysteries under the pretext of rescuing the children and he and Molly would accidentally fall through the veil.

Arthur asked, "What is the Veil?"

Sirius was being his regular smart mouthed self and said, "Oh, it is this archway that has a tattered veil draped over it. Once you fall through it you can never come out of it again."

Arthur looked at him strangely for a minute before he resumed the questioning. "So, you sneak in, fall through the veil, and you do not come back again?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"And what is the benefit in this as opposed to simply drinking the tea that Albus suggested?" Arthur really was a calm collected man who liked to think things through. Obviously this was going to be one of those things he was going to need convincing of. After all it isn't every day that a man gets more than one chance a day to off his wife of some twenty three years.

Harry took pity on him and began giving him more information. He smiled at Arthur and said, "First of all, The Veil of Death is a name that Wizards gave to the artifact. Wizards assume that if you enter the Veil you will die because there is no way out, and there does not seem to be any existence on the other side of the curtain.

Arthur nodded. "Keep talking. I still need more facts before I let my wife walk through the archway."

He continued, "So, while you were in the hospital over the Yuletide holiday season Sirius and I went to Gringotts and had a serious discussion with the Goblins regarding our life expectancies since both Voldemort and Dumbledore are gunning for us."

Sirius grinned," Gunning for us?"

Harry smiled and explained further, "Gunning is a muggle term meaning that they are both out to kill us."

"Oh, all right. Please continue."

Harry looked around and yawned, "Where was I? Oh, yes, I was telling you about Gringotts. While we were there talking to Axebiter, the goblin in charge of my accounts, and Bookgrabber, my magical education instructor, the King of the Goblins and his Queen stopped by the bank. "

This was news to Molly and Arthur so they sat us straight and listened.

"It turns out that my father, James Potter, was actually one of their children. He had an affinity for chaos magic which is probably what accounted so heavily for his success with transfiguration; however, he did not have the capacity to learn Goblin magic so when he turned eleven and received his Hogwarts letter, Jareth and Sarah agreed to let him go live with her oldest brother who was a wizard and had no children of his own. The brother adopted James and made him his heir."

Molly looked at the boy, "So are you a prince?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know. We did not really have time to discuss it at the time. Queen Sarah does have other children, some older than James, so no, I am not the Heir to the throne."

The barn owl that had been sitting quietly resting on the owl stand in the corner suddenly hopped off the perch and landed on the floor. As soon as it landed it morphed into a beautiful woman with long black hair and emerald green eyes. "Actually, Harry, you are King Jareth's favorite choice at this point as his heir."

Harry immediately jumped up from his chair and turned and bowed to his grandmother. "Your Majesty!"

Sarah howled with laughter. "I said Harry, not Hogul."

Harry sniffed and bowed his head as if he were crying. The Queen couldn't help it and went straight to him to give him a hug and reassure him that all was well.

He peeked out from around her shoulder and grinned at Sirius, "See, I told you that that look works on everyone."

Sirius snorted and said, "You haven't tried it on Voldemort yet."

"No, but it also worked on Narcissa Malfoy." Then he stepped back from his grandmother and added, "She even pinched my butt and told me I was a darling little princeling."

Sirius glared while Sarah actually scowled, "I shall have to have words with her regarding that. I take exception to her calling you a princeling. Just because her son is a blond popinjay does not make you less than perfect."

Arthur decided that he wanted to get the conversation back on track and this point so he mentioned that they really needed to discuss what the veil was and what it did before he let his wife walk through it.

Sarah sat down in the chair Harry pulled out for her and began drinking his cup of tea. After a sip she mentioned, "Darling, you need to put more sugar in your tea. Goblins and dragons are alike in that they use huge amounts of energy to liven up an otherwise dull world." At which point she flicked her finger at the sugar bowl and it obligingly slid over and gave her two more lumps of sugar with its dipping spoon.

"Yes, Grandmother."

Sarah leaned back after petting the sugar bowl lightly and began to speak. "The veil is not a door to death in the manner which the Ministry of Magic utilizes it. It actually drops people into a large oubliette. What kills them is that sometimes we make the decision to leave them in the oubliette."

Sirius wrinkled his nose. "So, what happens when you take a person out of the oubliette?

Sarah gave him a brilliant smile, "Jareth shows up at your house and informs you that you have thirteen hours to make you way through the maze and reach the castle beyond the Goblin City to rescue your loved one. "

Arthur paled but bravely plucked up his courage and continued, "And, if I don't rescue her within the thirteen hours?"

Sarah shrugged negligently, "Jareth usually turns the person into a Goblin and gives them the choice of working at one of the Goblin jobs there in the city, or they may apply for a permit to work above ground once they have sufficiently adjusted to being so ugly."

Molly caught Sarah's wink just before she heard a thud and turned to see her dear sweet husband passed out cold with a knot forming on his head where he banged it on the table on his way down to languish on the floor..

Sarah smirked as she added, "Of course I might prevail upon him to let you remain as a human since we are going to need a nanny in a few months if everything goes according to the laws of chaos."

Harry had not been paying attention and missed the remark. Molly, realizing someone was offering her a job working with babies, squealed with delight. That woke him up and he looked around groggily. "What did I miss?"

Sarah shook her head consolingly as she leaned toward him, "You missed nothing, my darling child. I was only talking to Molly about what she can expect if she decides to come live in the maze with me for awhile."

"Oh, OK." His big green eyes held such trust in her that she almost felt bad for him. Before she could worry about whether the decision she and Jareth had come to was correct he had fallen asleep for real.

Sirius watched her for several minutes before he spoke, "You came here for a purpose. Would you care to tell us what it is?"

Sarah's lighthearted mood disappeared quickly as she looked at the three adults, Hat, and Fawkes. "Jareth thinks that the only way to break the curse on Harry is to send him back in time to be with his soul mate. After they bond and reestablish their previous relationship we will be able to call them home. If he does not find his mate he will be lost in time, alone in a strange world. If he stays here he will face being a dragon by day and a man by night for the rest of his life."

Molly asked, "Would it be a bad thing for him to remain as a dragon/man here in this time?"

Sarah nodded her head 'yes'. "If he remains here he will have nothing better than a half life. His dragon form requires that he mate and form a bond with another being. The only being that we have been able to determine was his mate at one point is Salazar Slytherin. Sending him back that far in time is going to test all of Jareth's skills at manipulating time."

Sirius yawned as he spoke, "Is he good at reordering time?"

Sarah didn't feel like lying, "I like to think he is. He reordered time for me once. I did not notice any power drains on him at the time. It has not been that long ago."

The party broke up a few minutes later. Sarah reached over and brushed the hair back from Harry's forehead and traced his curse scar with her finger. She added just enough magic to agitate it. She would not be able to visit him again until after he returned to the present time. She was not happy to see him go, but knew that he would die rather quickly if he were not helped on the path he needed to travel.

Sirius nodded for Fawkes to take Harry back to his dormitory. "Make sure nothing bad happens to him before Jareth can set up everything that needs done. I trust you with Harry's life. Please don't let that trust be misplaced."

The Phoenix stepped over to where Sirius sat and rubbed his head against the man's cheek. As he drew back from him he trilled a beautiful set of notes that could only mean good things would happen. He even stepped back and dripped one pearly tear into Sirius's tea.

The man gasped in surprise and reached out with a shaking hand to stroke the Phoenix's crest. "Thank you, Fawkes. I will not worry any more. "

The bird cheeped one happy note before he placed Hat on Harry's head for the return trip to Hogwarts and then picked the boy up by his shoulders. They flamed away.

Sirius's last sight of his godson caused the man to break down in tears. He sobbed like a baby as he picked up the teacup and drank the tepid liquid down. He cried so hard that it took several minutes for a sense of peace to infuse his body. Eventually though, he went back up to his bedroom feeling lighter of heart than he had in years.

Fawkes and Hat made sure Harry was in bed and comfortable before they went up to the Headmaster's Office. Hat had made Ron get up and undress the boy before slipping him under his covers. He then told him a little bit of what was happening.

Ron listened to Hat's quick summary of the day's events and went back to his bed filled with a bit more hope than he had felt in quite some time. Being Harry's best friend really was a unique situation that involved more ups and downs than the cart tracks at Gringotts. He decided to wait and talk to his father before he looked for Ginny and the twins.

Fawkes, with Hat in tow, reappeared exactly where they should have been the whole time. Albus was sitting in his chair, obviously waiting on them. The phoenix had barely made it back to his perch before the questions started.

"Fawkes, my friend, where have you and Hat been all evening?"

The phoenix trilled happily and Albus forgot all of his cares under the healing notes of his familiar. He smiled vacantly at the bird before rising from his chair and toddling off to bed. Feeling as calm as he did right now he should be able to sleep the night through.

Hat waited until the old man was in his bed sound asleep before he spoke. "Laid it on a bit thick, I think."

Fawkes trilled merrily. "Overdone on purpose, there will have to be repercussions for what he tried to do here today. We cannot let him ruin the good name of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hopefully, he shall sleep until Jareth arrives in the morning to remove the little one.

Hat slumped back on his shelf and spoke no more.

Fawkes did not have that luxury; he would have to pretend he was sleeping, but he would have to remain awake and aware in case anything happened that would require intervention.

The night passed without any further problems. By the time breakfast was served Harry had caught Hermione, Ron, and Draco up on what was happening. The three of them were dumbstruck that so much had happened and there had been no rumors whatsoever.


	8. A room with a view

Disclaimers: Please and Thank you to refer to chapter 1.

A/N: Thanks to my lovely friends Excessively Perky and Athena Kitty for their continued interest and stimulating questions that give me more ideas to work with. Blessings on you both and may more of you pose a question or two that gives me pause to think...

* * *

Harry slept the night away. There is something to be said for living a clean life. Well, not too clean because he sometimes slipped away from everyone and made his way down into the Chamber of Secrets where he would enter Salazar Slytherin's private quarters and recline on a four poster bed that was maintained in pristine condition by Salazar's own housekeeping spells. Harry loved the forest green velvet drapes that held the heat in. He also loved the blankets made from ermine collected in the winter so they would be white. It was a decadent bed. He loved to lie in that bed and think lustful thoughts of the blond man who intrigued him so. Often when he touched an object he would recall vivid memories of why it resided in these chambers. More often than not though, he would spend his time staring into the chaos globe, dreaming of the day he would be able to hold Sterling for real and not worry about turning back into a dragon when the sun rose.

The day after he helped Hat and Fawkes rescue Molly all the peace and quiet that everyone was enjoying was changed with the delivery of the Daily Prophet. The lurid headlines screamed: **Sirius Black and Molly Weasley found dead in a double suicide**. Underneath that headline was a smaller one that questioned: Was this a love affair that went wrong, or something more sinister? The rest of the article was speculation and drivel, but it still traumatized the Weasley children.

A second front page article was published by the Quibbler. The Quibbler article carried the double death notice, but had an interesting twist to it. It chose to discuss several traditions that were acceptable to the Purebloods. Among the questions that the Quibbler asked were; did the Head of Black House contract with the Weasley family to produce an heir with Molly Prewitt Weasley since she was a proven 'breeder'? Did the magic invoked in such a ritual cause their death? Was it a love triangle gone badly as the Prophet suggested? And, just how was Arthur Weasley feeling now that he had lost his wife and possibly his other lover? The speculative article ended with the Quibbler stating that they felt quite certain that foul play was afoot, and that it was not a case of Arthur killing the two of them in a jealous rage.

An article on the second page had the Slytherins reading and discussing the subject in quiet tones. The Quibbler had listed the top one hundred families in the Wizarding World and who the first and second heirs were. The addendum at the bottom of the article stated that the Heirship could and would shift if it were proven that foul play was involved to affect the outcome of the inheritances.

Draco felt it was his duty as a representative of Slytherin to approach the Weasleys and offer his condolences on the loss of the Weasley matriarch under such confusing circumstances. Ron and the twins accepted his overture as a peace offering. Ginny just stared at him as her shoulders slumped and she shook in grief.

No one really knew what to do for them. Snape appeared and said he had managed to contact Arthur with a request that he floo over to the school as soon as possible. Why he was not already there was a question no one wanted to ask.

Mr. Weasley appeared in the Great Hall some ten minutes later. He looked haggard to the point that he probably had not managed any sleep the night just gone. In actual fact he had had a brilliant night with his wife. He had stopped by 12 Grimmauld Place bright and early on his way to work and Sirius had crucioed him so he would look suitably rough for work that day.

Dumbledore was tripping along beside Mr. Weasely, seemingly unaffected by the loss of two people who trusted and supported him. He actually was not affected by their demise; or, at least he was not aware of their deaths yet. He would get slightly irritated with the page two Quibbler article when he finally noticed it though. It stated that Harry James Potter-Black was the first heir to the Black fortune. The second heir was provisionally named Draco Malfoy. Since the Black Family had so many scandals the heirs were listed out as Andromeda, third; Nymphadora, forth; Bellatrix, fifth; and Narcissa as sixth heir. He frowned as he looked at the names and cursed silently when he saw Andromeda and Nymphadora on the list. It was going to be difficult to get rid of that many people without anyone screaming foul against the one who finally took control of the family. His darling Bella was not going to be happy if his plan did not go as they wanted. He had been plotting to produce a son with Bella and control the Black fortune for a decade and a half. So far the plan had not worked...

Arthur swept each of his children into a hug individually and then pulled the lot of them into a fierce hug that left Ginerva squished in the middle and finally feeling secure that the world was not ending. He told them to go get packed so that they could go home.

Dumbledore overheard Arthur tell the four children to go get ready to leave and reminded him that the Graduation ceremonies were that evening. If he could remain at the school for the day while Fred and George spent the day preparing to do their commencement walk it would be much appreciated.

The four children agreed to participate in their last day of school, but went around quite subdued. It was odd that their mother was not in attendance, and they did not know how to answer the questions that other students had. The Head Boy finally put a stop to student inquiries by taking time at lunch to explain the intricacies involved in an agreement between a Head of House and another pureblood family where 'services' were contracted and paid for in both monetary and magical compensation. The Quibbler had stated adamantly that no contract had been filed between the major and minor houses of Black and Weasley. The records dating back some ten years even verified that there were no contracts between House Black and House Potter whom Weasley could be a vassal of and House Black which Potter was First Heir of.

Had a contract been filed it would have listed the exact terms of copulation and reproduction. It was standard practice for the female to return to her home of residence after a child had been conceived and would be raised by her until such an age where the father would begin teaching the child his place in the Wizarding World. The practice was not often done because it involved trading family magical secrets, exchanging gold, changing house alliances, and was reflected in the Wizengamot at times. Basically it was just too much trouble when all you really needed to do to acquire an heir was find a magical orphan who was compatible with your magical signature and do a blood adoption. Simple really...

Arthur was proud to see his sons walk across the stage and graduate that evening. It was a wonderful night for a graduation and even Great-Aunt Muriel behaved impeccably. (One would almost think it was not really Muriel except she was so old and ugly who would want to impersonate her?)

It was not until after the ceremonies that Arthur became quite cross with his children. Fred and George had come down the stairs at a respectable time and they had even waited for almost half an hour quietly before becoming restless and signaling to their father that something might be wrong with the other two because otherwise they should have been downstairs and ready to go with the rest of them.

Arthur summoned a prefect and asked her to go check and see if Ginerva and Ronald Weasley were ready to leave for home with their family.

The girl was back in less than five minutes with a note in her hand. She was visibly upset as she said, "Sir, I hate to bring you more bad news, but both of them are gone and there is only this one note which was on Ginerva's bed.

Arthur took it with shaking hands. He dropped it twice while trying to open it, he was shaking so badly. It would not do to know that anything went wrong and his nerves were screaming. A look of relief flashed across his face as he read the note. They had gone to London to the Ministry of Magic because Harry had a vision that Voldemort had his godfather and was holding him prisoner in the Department of Mysteries. The usual suspects had gone with him: Ron, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Ginerva.

He looked at the children and said, "We need to go tell the Headmaster that Harry and some of the other children are in danger. Voldemort probably sent Harry a false vision through their link and they have gone to the Ministry to rescue Srius from the Death Eaters."

Fred and George were quite reasonable when they pointed out that there really was no reason for the children to go off the the Ministry to save Black if he were already dead.

Arthur shook his head and muttered a few invectives. "Who honestly believes that the Daily Prophet had the correct story? Of course it makes perfect sense to skive off to the Ministry Building!"

The boys shrugged their shoulders and helped dear old Aunt Muriel. They went as quickly as Aunt Muriel would permit them to move to the Headmaster's office. It did not take Arthur long to show Dumbledore the note and get him to summon some Aurors for backup. Then they were away to the Ministry.

It was not much of a mystery how Harry got the students to the Ministry Building so quickly. Dragons, like phoenixes, can carry immensely heavy loads and are capable of transporting said loads over incredible distances. They had left for the Ministry just before sunset when Harry was still a dragon. By the time they sneaked past the guard, who was not paying attention to who entered the Ministry that late in the day, he was already a human.

With Jareth's help, the children went straight to the Department that they wanted to visit. The students were pleased to see that Mr. Malfoy had kept his word regarding them being there. Malfoy had only told Voldemort and Rockwood that he had been contacted by Potter. He first told Voldemort because Harry had requested that Voldie be there to view it with them, Voldie had recommended that he tell Rockwood because Rockwood was an Unspeakable and had free run of the place. He could lead everyone straight to the item, view it, and they could get out.

Voldemort did not want to admit to Malfoy or Rockwood that the only reason he was honoring this agreement was because he had read extensively during his travels and one of the manuscripts dealt with the Dragon of Prophecy fulfilling his destiny and destroying the true Dark Lord. After hearing the reports coming in from his spies at Hogwarts, he was not even sure the prophecy they were going to view was the one he had been obsessed with the last year.

* * *

Arthur was really quite proud of the way he and Kingsley Shakelbolt managed to stage the whole production. They really would have preferred that Dumbldeore not be involved at all, but there did not seem to be any way to leave him out of the loop and still keep him from getting suspicious of them. When they got to the Ministry he sent Molly to find Sirius while he and the rest of the Order went looking for the children.

Sirius and Molly (still poyjuiced to look like Aunt Muriel) were standing in the Room where the Veil was when fighting broke out in the room next door. He smiled and said, "I do believe this is our cue." Together they pulled their wands and waited for the influx of warring wizards. Sirius really was shocked to see Dumbledore sneak in the room and fire a banishing hex at him.

Harry arrived in the room just in time to see Sirius's surprised look as he tumbled through the veil and was gone. Then he saw Muriel get hit by a stunner from nowhere and fall gracefully back into the void also. His shrieking alerted everyone and Lupin had a hard time holding him back as he made a lunge for the veil screaming that he needed to get Sirius back. Finally Remus had him convinced that he could not follow Sirius and that the only thing left to do was go home.

A few minutes later the more screams echoed around in the Atrium when Harry went running that way. Voldemort was so angry with Bellatrix that he was going to cast the Crucio on her for being there when he had not summoned her. Wand raised and hand shaking in anger he began to gather his energy when Harry shouted, "Don't hurt her!"

Voldie whirled around to see who had spoken to him so familiarly. Harry approached him and stood there beside him gasping for a few seconds before he managed to straighten up and breathe properly. "Why should I listen to you? She deserves to be disciplined."

Harry waved his wand at Bella and the glamour that Voldemort had not even known she was wearing fell. He gasped in surprise at the slightly distended stomach she was shielding with her hands. "Bella, my beauty, what is the meaning of this?"

Huge frightened, Violet eyes stared back at him. "I am with child."

Harry smiled, "Actually you are with children. My dragon can feel at least three heartbeats. That means that at the least you carry twins."

Dumbledore raced into the room and saw Voldemort standing there with Harry and Bellatrix. It would not do to give his game away so he began to speak, "Tom, I don't want you to hurt either one of these two. I want you to leave and no one will be harmed."

Harry glared at Dumbledore while whispering to Voldie, "Remember the prophecy. Pull it out and examine it thoroughly. I do not think you are the Dark Lord I am to defeat. You marked me as your champion and together we will have to take him down."

Voldie nodded but kept up the act, "I see you have help, Potter. Never mind, we will meet again." As he spoke he threw a small object at him.

Harry knew there was not going to be a better time to activate the port-key so he shoved part of it into Bellatrix Black-LeStrange's hand and away they went.J

Jareth and Sarah stood in the shadows and observed the proceedings. Seeing the real prophecy had been a bit of a shock. Dumbledore had conveniently left off part of Sybil's prediction when he shared it with the Potters: the ending line made all the difference in who the bad guy really was. _Neither can live while the other survives_ had been followed by _Unless they defeat the true bringer of darkn_ess.

Sarah stared thoughtfully at the empty space where their grandson had just left from. "Jareth, Darling, do you think..."

Jareth smirked as he looked at the self-important little wizards who were now standing beside the atrium fountain. "I think so. Instead of Azkaban, when our child returns we shall gather both Dumbledore and Voldemort up and dump them in the Bog of Eternal Stench for a few decades."

The wizards cringed in fear and huddled together as the Goblin King and his queen laughed merrily before apparating away.


	9. Moving in time

Disclaimers: Please and Thank you to refer to chapter 1.

A/N: Thanks to my lovely friends Excessively Perky and Athena Kitty for their continued interest and stimulating questions that give me more ideas to work with. Blessings on you both and may more of you pose a question or two that gives me pause to think...

* * *

Bella was horrified to find herself in the middle of a field with a boy who whom she did not know in the slightest. She suddenly felt very uncertain about the future. Not knowing anything about where you are or what the person with you is like tends to unbalance a person. When you are already an unbalanced person and then add pregnancy hormones to the mix, well just about anything can happen.

When you are dealing with logic the first statement you need to keep in mind is Murphy's Law. Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. The wrong is guaranteed- there are just varying degrees of wrong. Wrong was headed their way in the form of a band of thieves if Harry's senses were working properly.

He did not have time for subtlety. "Bella, are you ready to kick some arse?"

Bella was not a feared woman for no reason. After the day she had had asking that question was rather stupid. "Of course." She had not seemed to move from her position, but Harry felt her push slightly against his right side.

His dragon told him that Bella was left handed and he easily fell into a protective stance beside her. They covered each others back nicely as they waited for the big headed idiot who was obviously the leader to start talking.

Harry had been expecting to hear a different accent on the English spoken around him, but had a bit of a problem translating the guttural Old English they were using. In the middle of the guy's speech about them being trespassers on his land and them needing to pay a toll, Harry yawned and asked Bella if she knew any translations spells because he was having a difficult time interpreting the grunting noises the pigs in front of them were using as speech.

The man became angry enough to pull out a whip and shake it out to use on Harry. Bella laughed at the man and as he began to raise the whip she cast the first spell. He screamed in terror as the whip turned into a large poisonous snake- which promptly sunk it's fangs firmly into his arm.

The other four men with him drew back slightly and conferred regarding the subject of magic users. As they argued, the man who had been bitten went from shaking in fear to completely still. After he died Harry called the serpent to him and the men watched in horror as the snake curled up around his waist. With the snake secured he looked at the four and spoke, "We have paid passage through these lands in accordance with how we have been treated. We demand right of passage with no further interference."

The bravest of the four managed to ask, "Where are you bound?"

Harry looked at them and stated, "I am escorting my cousin to her husband. He headed north to a village called Hogsmeade. It is supposed to be in the Highlands. We were told there were jobs to be found if one is clever enough."

The man nodded. "Aye, there be lots of work at the castle they be building. It will be a fair piece to walk and will take you a few days." Then he had the audacity to say, "You could stay at our village for a few days. A right nice looking woman like her would be a welcome change from what we usually have."

Bellatrix sneered at the man, but spoke to Harry, "Obviously my little parlor trick did not make much of an impression if they can so easily dismiss an adder and then proposition me all in one breath."

Harry shook his head. "Let's just let the idiots live. I was prepared to travel before I forced you to hold the port-key with me. I have food, a broom, and my invisibility cloak stashed in a small pack on my back."

Bella growled as one of the men moved closer. Harry simply pointed his finger and said, "Back." The man came to a stop some twenty feet away from where his friends were standing. When he regained his feet in an unsteady manner, he did not attempt to close in on the two travelers again.

Harry did not waste anymore time talking but swung the bag off his shoulder and proceeded to pull the invisibility cloak out and unshrink his broom. They were mounted and covered with the cloak before the men regained their courage. To see people completely disappear was too much for the boys and they ran screaming from the site of the encounter.

He nudged Bella who was getting comfortable with him and said, "Can you just apparated us to Hogwarts? I don't see any sense in having to fly. "

Bella sneered at him again. "Didn't anyone tell you that a woman is not supposed to apparated if she is pregnant because it could spilch the baby?"

Harry observed her calmly then in a snide tone of voice said, "No, I don't believe the subject came up. After all I am only a teenager and male at that."

"Oh."

"Right, so do you know the way to Hogwarts, or do you need to use a point me spell."

Bella snarled, "How about I pretend you are my knight in shining armor and let you rescue me."

"How about you knock off the shit and just tell me which way it is? When that sun comes up I am going to turn into a fire breathing dragon and I just might roast your arse if you don't stop acting so pitiful."

The trip north to Hogwarts would probably have gone just fine if Bellatrix had kept her mouth shut and behaved herself. Instead, she decided that since Harry was a 'light' wizard and had saved her from both Voldemort and Dumbledore, and then let the villains get away, that he would be easy enough to dominate. When Harry asked her to do the locate spell so that they could get started on flying, she smirked and said, "If you want to go North, by all means, do so. I shan't be going with you though."

Harry looked at her, "You are joking, right?"

"No." She snapped. "I intend to take care of myself. That does not include doing what you want me to."

Harry shook his head. "No, Bella. You are under the illusion that you are here of your own free will and that is a fallacy."

She knew she could get him upset if she used her 'baby' voice on him, "What's the matter, baby Potter? Are things not going the way you want them to? Is big bad Bella messing with your schedule?" She stopped talking and snarled as she waved her wand in his face.

The next second she was bound in unbreakable wizard bonds and the almost sixteen year old whom she thought was a pansy-ass stood glaring over her prone figure. "Make no mistake, Bitch, the only reason you are still alive is the fact that you carry at least two children. Otherwise, I would have already killed you and saved the world the trouble of putting up with your skank ass." He looked at the filthy wand in his hand and cast a cleaning charm on it before inspecting it properly. "You really need to clean up some too. I hope the rest of you is not as filthy as your wand."

Her big violet eyes filled with tears, probably pregnancy induced hormones, and she began to cry. All she got for her trouble was a silencing charm. That really set her off with the sobbing routine.

Harry just watched her impassively and shook his head. It was going to be a long night. He might as well get busy with making them comfortable. Looking around him, he did not see any identifiable land features. That in it self told him he was either in the Lowlands already or somewhere close to the border.

He stepped away from Bella and pulled a thistle off its stem. A second later he had transfigured it into a lovely large tent of purple and grey. Not long after that he transfigured beds and covers for them both. He then cast a few notice-me-not charms on the tent, put up a muggle repelling ward, and levitated the still sniveling Bella into the tent and onto a cot.

He watched her for a few minutes before deciding to leave her like she was. It was safer for him if he did everything he could to neutralize her. She was too mentally unstable to be trusted even if she could understand that someone was working to help her. It was just best to make sure that rabid animals were contained.

He had been dealing with his dragon curse long enough to know when the sun was going to rise so he decided to write a letter and then get some sleep. It was a given that the day was going to be a long one.

* * *

The sun had risen long before Harry woke from his sleep. The first thing the dragon did was jump off his bed and check to make sure Bella was still a prisoner. The silencing charm had worn off, but the ropes had held.

She immediately began complaining that she needed to use the bathroom, thinking that Harry would let her go.

The little black dragon picked her up and carried her out the door. She shrieked in anger when he pulled up her skirts and began hacking and gagging when the stench from her unwashed nether parts reached his sensitive dragon nose. Instead of leaving her to use the outdoors he quickly stepped back into the tent and transfigured one of the cots into a tub of lovely warm water with lots of bubbles floating in it.

She then received a lecture on hygiene as she was stripped of her filthy robe and forced to answer nature's call right there behind the tent. Even with her naked, he was not going to turn his back on the evil witch.

Bella figured out rather quickly that she needed to shut up and keep her head above the water because the dragon was intent on cleaning her. She did not know whether to laugh or cry when he banished the water twice before he deemed her hygienic enough to be let out in public.

The end result of the dragon's temper tantrum was that Bellatrix looked, smelt, and actually felt better than she had in years. It probably helped that Harry was a dragon obsessed with beauty, and he cast quite a few charms on her to improve her hair, face, and skin. Suffice to say that Bellatrix was looking stunning for a human, but she did not know that. He was not about to tell her either. After all, no self respecting dragon is going to be seen in public with an ugly princess. Quickly he reviewed his 'to do' list. It was the usual list of get up, get dressed, get packed...

It was time to show up at Hogwarts. Harry was quite hungry so he presumed that his prisoner was ravenous also. Having thought the situation over very carefully, he decided that they should go as soon as possible. He projected the image to her of what he was about to do.

Bella was just about ready to cut loose with more invectives that questioned not only his parentage, but also the rest of his family tree when he turned to her with an evil glint in his eyes and projected the image of her being bound to a rock out in the middle of the sea with only a logging chain bolted around her neck. She meeped and fell silent. It just seemed a given that as badly as the dragon had abused her dignity so far, it really would chain her nude body to a rock somewhere on an isolated island. She still had not made the connection that Harry would be nice if she would...

Camp was packed up and they were ready. He had quite a bit of fun hunkering down some distance away from her, muscles twitching and tail lashing as he looked at her. He could tell the exact second she was about to crack. As she opened her mouth to scream he pounced. One second the dragon had his talons wrapped firmly around her ankles carrying her up-side-down and the next second they were hovering outside the main doors to Hogwarts.

Hogwarts, in its infancy, was almost as beautiful as it was in the year 1996. It had a bit more growing to do, and its sentience was also in infant stage, but it was a joy to Harry to be home regardless of what year it was.

The year 990AD might have looked progressive, but the sight of a dragon dangling a woman upside down on the front lawn was not normal. Especially when the woman's face was covered, but her bits were exposed. Mind you, the viewers were not complaining about the scenery, they just seemed a tad bit alarmed about the dragon. The four founders had rushed outside to see what the excitement was and found a dragon fluttering approximately eight feet off the ground exposing a woman to their view.

Rowena was the first one to say anything. Glaring at the dragon she spoke firmly and precisely. "Black Dragon, I want you to bring the person over here and set her down very gently in front of me so that I can cover her back up."

The dragon huffed a slight bit of flame at her, but did as she asked.

While Rowena was helping Bellatrix set herself to rights Harry had settled down on the lawn and had pranced over to where Helga was standing with several young children gathered round her. He stuck his nose out for a little boy that looked like an anorexic version of Gregory Goyle to pet him. When the child did not take the hint Harry's tongue shot out and slurped the boy from his chin to his hairline. He then sat back on his haunches and snorted as the boy squealed and dodged behind Helga.

Meanwhile, Rowena had Bella up and decent. She was also mumbling none too discreetly that she could not understand why the dragon was behaving so badly. He could have seriously hurt the lady: not that embarrassing her that badly was not harmful because it was.

Harry snorted and replied in Dragonsong, "If the nasty skank would wear under garments she would not have scarred all these poor darling children for life by exposing her unmentionable bits."

Salazar Slytherin stepped forward and looked at the dragon carefully. "Did I just hear you speak?"

"LIKE YEAH! I do it all the time!" Harry shook his head and spoke perfect 'Valley Speak'.

Slytherin cracked up laughing.

Rowena whirled around and snarled, "What is so funny about all this?" She mumbled a few invectives and then snarled some more, "I can't get the bindings off this woman. What the hell is wrong with you, Slytherin?" She would have probably kept on except Harry broke in on her soliloquy.

"Don't take the bindings off that psychotic bitch unless you want her to kill you and everyone else in the castle. She is a homicidal maniac and can not be trusted. She is exceptionally powerful, quite intelligent, and very dangerous."

Slytherin glared at him, "She is what? And why did you bring her here if I understood you to say she is a danger to the people around her?"

If dragons could smile like humans they would show some beautiful teeth. Harry showed Salazar his beautiful pearly white fangs. "Yes, she is dangerous. I brought her here because her mind has been damaged and I was told by my grandfather that you and Helga together might be able to heal her. I had thought about just eating her to get rid of her, but she was so filthy that I bathed her instead. There is also the problem that she is carrying at least two children and if the father of those children get hold of them he will try to destroy the Wizarding world in his quest to gain money and power through using them."

Slytherin blinked a few times and let out a frustrated sigh.

"Well, what does the dragon say about all of this?" Helga asked since Rowena had been reduced to standing there with one hand on her hip as she tapped a foot on the ground. (everyone knows that means she is too angry to hold a rational discussion.)

Sal blinked again and then focused on the woman. "Dragon says the woman is bound because she is dangerous. She is mind-sick and he brought her here to see if we could heal her because she is pregnant and her children are valuable."

Helga nodded, "Yes, I see the dark magic residue clinging to her. I wonder why people study the dark arts and do not perform the purifying rituals when they know they are starting to experience spell build-up on themselves."

Godric stepped forward and looked at Bellatrix. "This woman looks like the one I have been dreaming of for the last few months. I wonder if I started having dreams of her when she became pregnant and needed a knight-errant."

Harry watched Godric looking Bellatrix over like she was a prize mare. He turned to Salazar and hissed, "If he wishes to acquire a wife who is already breeding Bellatrix might suit him quite nicely. Her Head of Family Black declared her marriage to Rudolphus LeStrange null and void because he did not follow protocol while letting his wife attend to the heir needs of a different family without providing her own lord with a male heir. LeStrange will be summoned before the Wizengamot to answer charges of failure to protect his wife from unsolicited advances and subsequent disappearance."

Sal translated the rest of what the dragon said. Everyone shook their heads when they heard that the pretty woman had not been protected as a lady of noble birth should have been. He turned back to the dragon, "Did her Head of House send any other details with her?"

The dragon looked at him consideringly. "What kind of funds would the lady need to present to Hogwarts in order to remain here and be treated as a lady of considerable worth while she is being treated? I have my instructions and part of the instructions is that if she costs more than I have brought with me then I am to eat her and forget about her once my stomach ache dies to a tolerable level."

Slytherin was once again laughing so hard that he could barely breathe. It seemed to take forever for him to quit with the leg slapping and the guffaws. He only quit because the dragon asked him if it would be possible for them to enter the castle and partake of the noon meal which the house elves had made for them.

The two of them were quickly escorted inside while Slytherin gave a running commentary translation to the others of what the dragon had said.

As they sat down to the meal, Rowena had the idea to remove the silencing spell from Bellatrix. It did not take more than a few choice words aimed at the dragon for Godric to raise his wand and reapply the charm.

Sal grinned at him, "Your name is Harry?"

Harry nodded an affirmative; then added, "I'm also a gay virgin."

The look on Sal's face was rather priceless. He finally managed to choke out, "Good. If I meet any other Black Welsh dragons I will mention your name."

Harry snorted. "I was rather hoping that you would say your animagus form was a Black Welsh and we could fly over to Snowdon and make beautiful snow angels together."

Salazar managed not to freak out. He gathered his thoughts before speaking. "I am finding it rather disconcerting that a dragon has better table manners than most of the children in this school. Actually, I have all kinds of..." Here is voice failed him. Shaking his head he added, "I do not have the words for it."

Harry causally cut a piece of steak off and popped it in his mouth. "The word you are searching for is 'issues'. Spelled I S S U E S. It is a list of facts," He looked around, "Or fiction if you live in La-La Land like most of the residents of this castle seem to do."

Salazar watched him, "I think I agree with you. It doesn't do any good to agree with you, but..."

Harry suddenly cocked his head and stared at Bellatrix with a beady green eye. He saw her stealthy movement as she tried to move away from the table. Rowena had disregarded his warning not to let her out of the bonds he had placed on her and had managed to not only free her, she had given her a wand.

He roared and sent a blast of flame right at Bella's hand; a hand that was holding Helga Hufflepuff at wand point. Bella had managed to do some silent casting and removed the silencio from earlier. She had just started to cast the killing curse when her nicely burning wand got too hot for her to hold. She dropped the wand and held her scorched hand as tears fell down her gaunt cheeks.

Helga immediately disregarded the fact she had been a hair's breath away from dying and took pity on Bella by casting a numbing charm on her burnt hand. Godric took pity on Helga and recast a few restraining charms on Bella's body.

Harry forgot to wait and ask Salazar to translate for him as he tore into Rowena for disregarding what he said about the prisoner when he dropped her in front of them. He began to literally roar at the witch, flames shooting out of his mouth and smoke puffing around him on every exhale.

Godric immediately jumped out of the way and let the dragon do his thing. Bella took one look at the pissed off dragon and passed out. Helga meeped in fear and backed away slowly. Rowena simply stood there in a puddle of urine and choked on the smoke.

As usual, it was up to Salazar to fix things. He was not positive of what he should be doing, but he figured he should calm the dragon down first. Then he reckoned that he might as well get in on the action with everyone else and he stepped around Rowena and placed himself between her and the angry dragon. "I need you to calm down and tell me why you are so angry?" he hissed.

Harry glared daggers at the witch, but he finally focused on Salazar. "Did I, or did I not, explain that the bitch is not only crazy, she is a homicidal maniac?"

Salazar closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "Let's work with the content of the message first. OK?"

Harry sat down but steam was still coming out of his ears.

"Please explain what homicidal maniac is?"

"It is someone who goes around killing other people for no reason other than they want to, and they do not feel bad about it."

Sal stated, "Then the cleansing ritual should have been done on her without her consent."

"She is not sane enough to give her consent to anything. Tying her shoes, eating food, killing without provocation; it is all jumbled up."

"You do know that all you have to do is perform cleansing rituals on her?"

"No, I do not know that. The time period I come from no longer knows of the cleaning ritual spells. They have been lost. That is why I brought her back in time with me. We are trying to save as many witches and wizards from dying from the madness as we can."

Salazar looked at him, "So, you are a time traveling dragon with exceptionally good table manners, and you go around rescuing damsels in distress so that you can fix all their problems."

Harry looked at Salazar and saw that he was being facetious. "Yeah, that is pretty much it exactly." When Sal continued to just stare at him, Harry tilted his head and asked, "What? You want me to explain some more when you have no intention of listening to me. I am not going to waste any more of my time. Goodbye."

Godric understood Harry's body language. "Are you just going to leave? What about her?" He nudged Bella with his boot. "She is still out cold. Maybe we should take her up to the infirmary."

Salazar turned and scooped Bellatrix up. "Yes, we will go to the infirmary. Helga, will you help Rowena up the stairs? I think she will need a calming draught and a clean gown."

Godric had his own agenda. When the others had left the room he pulled his knife and stabbed the dragon. It fell over gracefully and lay on the floor. It really was a rather small dragon, easy enough for him to pick it up and carry it away. He headed for his side of the dungeons where he intended to incarcerate the dragon and use it in his potions studies.

One of the older boys quickly ducked down to avoid the general 'obliviate' spell that Godric threw over his shoulder casually as he left. He did not like the way the four of them had treated the dragon. He had not noticed before just how condescending his older brother and his three friends had become. Severin Slythern intended to speak to Salazar about what was going on around here. He was pretty sure that Gryffindor intended to eventually kill the dragon and anyone with an ounce of intelligence could see that the thing was more than just a magical creature.


	10. More to heal than just a dragon

Disclaimers: Please and Thank you to refer to chapter 1.

A/N: Thanks to Momocolady this chapter for her excellent questions. I am trying to answer a few things as I write, so thanks for helping me close a few plot holes. Thank you all who are reading and extra blessings on those of you who write and hlep me!

* * *

Harry came to late that night. He had been manacled to a wall by both legs and he could feel the magic pulsing in the cuffs. But, no matter how much they inhibited magic they were made to hold a much larger creature than Harry in his human form. His finely boned human ankles soon flexed and the cuff slid right off his narrow dainty feet.

The next thing he needed to do was heal the knife wound that Godric had inflicted. The arrogant bastard would pay for that. Not with his life, but he would pay...

As Harry was going through his pack that was part of his form while he was a dragon, the door was unlocked and a lighted wand eased its way in to look around. When the person saw Harry instead of a dragon, he slid into the room and closed the door. "Sorry I could not get here earlier to help you." He immediately began talking.

Harry held his finger up to his lips.

The boy nodded and quieted down. He also eased closer and began pulling a small bag of ground up herbs out of his pocket. "I brought these for you. It is a mixture of foxglove, night blooming moon flower, and a few other things that will help pull the poison out of your wound. It won't heal until you use them. I know because Gryffindor uses poison on his knives; says it gives us incentive to learn how to fight properly because if you don't have the antidote your body breaks down while you slowly bleed to death. It takes days to die like that..."

Harry turned beautiful green eyes to the platinum blond boy. "Why are you helping me? How did you even know that I am only a dragon by day and a man by night?"

The boy, who at sixteen was just slightly older than Harry, shook his head. "It was not too difficult to see that you were not a dragon from birth. A proper dragon would not have touched that woman and I heard you say that she was so filthy that you had to bathe her this morning before you brought her here to be healed."

Harry smiled, "You are a parseltongue?"

Severin shook his head no. "I am actually a Dragonsong speaker. My animagus form is a Norwegian Ridgeback. I sometimes give Gryffindor blood so that he can work on something he is doing with the uses of dragon blood. I don't know how it is going to turn out though, the latent magic in my blood is different from a real dragon's magic so it might skew the results."

Harry nodded. "That must be why he decided to capture and kill me. He will probably be quite irritated when he finds that instead of a real dragon he was working with another animagus."

Severin nodded. "He will probably try to finish killing you."

"Probably."

"So let's get you out of here before he returns and finds you."

Harry was in no condition to jump up and run out of the room. The blood seeping from the wound in his side was bad enough that he was starting to feel unwell. Gryffindor had actually inflicted an expert wound. Harry could die within hours instead of days because of the depth of the wound although the knife had not touched any vital organs.

Severin led him out of the room, but ended up carrying him bridal style up the stairs to the infirmary. He laid Harry down on a bed and went to find one of the girls who was training to be a healer under Helga.

It was quiet in the infirmary. The night sounds were different in the 10th Century from what Harry was used to in the 20th. Even in the wilds of Scotland there were signs of civilization encroaching on the school. Here, everything was raw, not yet worn with time and definitely no signs of progress beyond managing to build a structure with pipes like the Romans had while utilizing a hot spring that was conveniently located right next to a convergence of ley lines.

He tried to focus on identifying what was out there, but his senses were clouded by the poison moving through his veins. He really hoped that Severin would come back soon because he was not sure how much longer he would remain coherent.

Severin returned with a girl who looked so much like Hermione that Harry found himself gasping, "Hermione?" He could believe that Hermione would find a way to follow him. She was his most dedicated and loyal friend and had been with him through thick and thin for five years; she was his blood sister.

The girl smiled and greeted him gently. "Hello, Harry Dragon. My name is Isadora Dupree. I am studying to be a healer. I plan to marry Severin after I take my Healer Tests and will move back to Provence where we will take up running the family estate. Severin tells me that you were stabbed by Gryffindor this afternoon." She said all that as she expertly waved her wand around and took readings on his physical health.

Severin sat at the end of Harry's bed, his arms crossed as he lounged against the post. "Isadora is extremely good, isn't she?" He smirked.

Harry agreed with him. "You are very good. I thank you, as does the Goblin nation."

Isadora looked at him, "What do the Goblins have to do with it?"

Harry was still feeling faint from the poison and answered, "I am a time traveler from the future. In my time the Goblin King is my grandfather."

Isadora began to curtsy and Severin slid off the bed and came to attention.

Harry saw their frightened movements and began to panic also. "NO, don't get crazy on me. I am just one of the grandkids. I am not the royal heir." He looked at them beseechingly. Then honesty compelled him to add, "At least I don't think I am the heir. Grandpa did say my chaos magic was the best he's seen yet, and that is what it takes to be a good Goblin King."

The two listened to him rambling and finally calmed down. Isadora set the poultice on his wound and added a heating charm so that the herbs would pull the poison out without her having to change the dressing constantly. By the time that she felt he was capable of sitting up and drinking a potion she had prescribed for him, they were back on their way to becoming the best of friends.

They managed to sneak him out of the infirmary just before daybreak. Severin mentioned that the reason he could not stay was because the woman he had brought to the castle was going to start some of the less painful treatments during sunrise to see if her mind could be healed.

Harry looked over at the closed off area where Bellatrix was. "I do hope she can be healed. She used to be my Godfather's favorite cousin before she became immersed in the Dark Arts to please first her parents and then her husband.

Severin looked over at the partition. "I took a look at her earlier. She stinks of Black Magic. I would not be surprised if she does not recover. How could anyone let her get so bad?"

Harry looked away from Isadora's accusing frown. "Don't look at me like that. You have no idea what the world looks like a thousand years in the future. It seems like every day we lose something more that connects us to our magic. Right now we have a Dark Lord trying to kill everyone because he wants to control everything. He wants to win by being the last magician standing. He is the one who molested Cousin Bellatrix and has forced several pregnancies on her. He had my godfather sent to prison and is trying to take over his estate by being regent/father of the child who will finally inherit. He would have simply taken my inheritance by forcing me to marry a girl who comes from good breeding stock. After we got pregnant he intended to have me killed and become Regent of my estate."

The two teens gagged. "Even Gryffindor isn't that bad." Severin admitted, "And we don't like him at all."

Harry went back to describing conditions. "The other Dark Lord who people are rallying to hates muggle-borns and half-bloods. He also kills purebloods if they refuse to follow him. This is the second war for the racist wizard. During the first war he came to my parents' house and killed them. He tried to kill me, but only managed to scar me then his magic rebounded and knocked him out of his body. He spent almost a decade and a half without a body before someone was dumb enough to perform a ritual to create a new body for him. So now he is back in business too."

Severin looked confused. "How could you lose so much knowledge that you would not know how to do some of the basic maintenance stuff? Don't you have books?" The he turned a bemused stare to his intended. "Darling, do you know what he means by the terms 'half-blood' and 'mud-blood'?"

Isadora shook her head. "No. Harry will have to explain that later."

Severin gave his undivided attention back to Harry. "OK, so you will explain the blood issue later. Right now I want to know why you do not know to purify a person's magic. It is the same concept as taking a bath and you understand that."

Harry smiled at him. "Yes, Severin, we have book knowledge. We have some incredibly interesting ways to communicate both with speech and the written word. However, from what you are saying it seems that we have lost the ability to do the maintenance spells to clean our magic if that is what you are asking."

Isadora was fascinated. "Let's go to our room and call the house elves to bring us some food and tea while we listen to Harry tell us stories of the 20th Century. Please?" She looked up at the blond and batted her honey gold eyes.

Severin grinned. "As M'lady wishes! Let us be away then."

They were soon settled comfortably and were listening avidly as Harry spoke about how the Guttenberg press revolutionized the world. From signal fires to the first printing press, cameras to moving pictures, from having people run marathons to spread the news to flying across oceans. The teens bulked at the notion that science and technology had evolved to the point where men had walked on the moon some twenty years before Harry was born. Put like that- it did seem a bit much.

Harry grinned, "Give me a minute and let me try to remember how to make floo powder. We had to do that one on our OWLs."

Isadora looked at him. "I think you have been awake too long. I have never heard of floo powder and I hear quite a bit around here."

Harry yawned, "See if you can get a measure of firefrost, some chimney swallow pin feathers, and the rest of the ingredients for the animagus revealer potion." By the time he was finished talking he had yawned and drew a peaceful breath before sinking into a sound sleep. The other two teens scarmbled to gather the items he requested and were back with them in less than an hour. It did not bother them to wake the boy and insist on learning what he knew of the subject.

That morning when Harry turned back into a dragon they warded the door so only he could move around and left him to sleep and recover a bit more. Harry slept through most of the day and only woke once to make his way to the 'bog' then scurried back to the room where he promptly fell asleep again. He missed most of the excitement that was caused when Severin waited until the Great Hall was full of people before approaching the head table where he stopped in between his brother and Godric Gryffindor. He looked at Salazar and asked, "Yesterday after you left to take the lady to the infirmary, what did you intend to happen to the dragon that brought her here?"

Sal looked at him. "You know, I completely forgot that the thing was here. Did it leave?"

Severin glared at Godric. "What about you? Would you like to tell him what happened to the dragon?"

Gryffindor glared right back at Sev. "That dragon had better be chained up in my potions dungeon where I put him."

Sev shook his head 'no'. "Of course he is not still chained in the dungeon. "I realized there was something wrong with what you were doing when you tried to obliviate everyone. If you were not so 'involved' in your research on the effects of dragon blood, you would have noticed that the dragon was not ordinary. He is actually a wizard trapped in a spell where he must be a dragon by day and a man by night."

Gryffindor coughed and muttered, "Bullshit."

Sev smirked at him and said, "No, what is bullshit, is stabbing a defenseless creature with a poisoned knife and leaving it to lose its mind while it bleeds to death because the wound won't clot. You are lucky Isadora and I saved him or you would be in a world of trouble. That particular dragon-boy happens to be the favorite grandchild of the Goblin King somewhere in the future. Didn't it ever occur to you that if he could travel back in time, then others could also?"

Gryffindor turned a few shades of red and both Helga and Rowena glared at him. He fidgeted for a few seconds and said, "I didn't think. I just wanted to get some more research done."

Sev lost his temper, "You nasty bastard. You did not even think about anyone except yourself. He would have died already if I had not gone down to the dungeon and took him up to the hospital so Isadora could help him. Doesn't it bother you any at all that had you been successful with your murder attempt that you would have killed a grandchild of the Goblin king himself?"

Salazar groaned and looked at Godric while holding his head in his hand. "You really attempted murder to get a specimen? Merlin's balls, Godric, what the hell were you thinking?" He spent a few more minutes moaning about the crisis then sat up and looked straight at Severin, "Brother, I need you to take me to see the dragon."

Severin said, "It won't do any good right now. Wait until after nightfall and he will turn back into a man. You can talk to him then." Without further ado, Severin turned on the heel of his dragonhide boots and went back to the table where he normally sat.

Godric sat there and pouted for the rest of the meal. The other three were giving him the cold shoulder so just before they got up he mumbled, "Look, I'm sorry. I won't do it again. Besides, how was I to know that goblins could be spelled like wizards?"

Rowena shrugged, "Don't apologize to us. We know you don't mean it anyway."

Godric glared at her, "He is probably hideously ugly ANYWAY, and needs to be put down so the world need not look at him."

Sev heard that remark as Godric was speaking loudly and raised an eyebrow. He sat at the Slytherin benches and mumbled about pathetic bastards. Godric's attitude irked him to the point where he wanted to storm out of the room. He wondered why Godric would think the boy ugly. Harry was perfectly beautiful and did not look the first bit like a goblin. At least he did not look like any goblin that had worked at Hogwarts as a builder, or at the bank in Diagon Alley in London.

Salazar looked at Godric. "We have been friends for over ten years, yes? During that time all four of us have changed a lot." Here he paused before looking right at Godric and adding, "Some of those changes are definitely not for the good." After watching the other man blush he added, "We used to be open-minded and a lot more careful of what we said and did when others were around." He looked at the other two founders. "Severin came to viist me yesterday afternoon and asked me a few questions that got me thinking. One of the first questions was: 'what happened to our kindness and common courtesy?"

Helga took that question seriously also. She looked down at her plate then out at all the children. "Maybe we have grown too complacent with our own talent. Just this morning I almost missed one of my little ones making a breaktrough in controlling his magic because I was rushed off my feet trying to get upstairs to help that lady in the infirmery." She sat there fighting some tears for a few seconds before adding, "Really though, going upstairs was just an excuse. I have been wanting to have children of my own and seeing these little ones is tearing at my heart."

Rowena nodded. "I am being stretched too far also. I want to have a child of my own in addition to spening more time with the children. I feel that I have not really understood or helped develop the children this year like I used to enjoy doing."

Salazar lowered his head and stared firmly at his trencher. "Those problems can be dealt with easily. We can hire more teachers, cooks, cleaners... People always come through here wanting work and most of them are good peoples."

Godric looked down at his trencher and said, "You are right. I have been letting things get to my head. I had no right to chain that dragon up and leave it to die just so I could have some potions ingredients. Between your brother donating blood and me having access to the dragon graveyard, I should not have tried to kill him."

Salazar looked quite unhappy himself as he admitted that after listening to the dragon rant at Rowena for being an arrogant, pompous, know-it-all then having his brother ask questions, that he was feeling the winds of change also.

* * *

Godric was the first one to leave the dinner table and walked over to Severin. "I should like to go and make amends with boy who brought the lady here."

Severin snortedand shook his head 'no'.

Salazar looked up when he felt the flare of magic and saw Godric about to get confrontational with his brother. He rose and marched over to them. "What is going on here?"

Godric sneered, "I asked to see the dragon-boy and Mr. Slytherin saw fit to deny my request.

Sal arched a brow at Sev. "Mind explaining?"

Severin looked calmly up at his brother. "I feel somewhat responsible for this boy. He cannot be harmed further."

Salazar nodded. "Of course. I shall go with you and make sure that all is well with the boy also."

The trip to Severin's room was wasted. Although Harry was in human form he was bent over the globe that his grandfather had given him and was deep in whatever magical thrall the ball could provide. None of the men could disturb him although the curtain of jet black hair obscuring his face had Salazar wishing he could shift the hair and look upon the face. The magic swirling around him precluded that being done though.

* * *

The four Founders of Hogwarts did not have a great deal of time to spend in the infirmary with Bella. It was getting on to the last of the year and someone was always being called away to help with the end of year stuff. Between themselves and the nursing students, they took it in turns to unravel the interwoven mess of spells cast on her and the residue from spells that had been slowly destroying her completely. Bellatrix Black LeStrange was recovering though under the gentle ministrations of the staff. Spells were being removed from her, potions were administered, and Godric Gryffindor often made time to spend with her so that she could exercise and eat without being locked in her room. It was Bella's own choice to be restrained when she was supposed to be resting so that she would not cause harm if she was having a relapse.

Helga looked at Bellatrix's body as it lay uncovered on the bed. The only sign of restraints were some muggle restraints that tied her arms and legs to the posts. They had tried to create a magically sterile environment where they could use counter-spells to dissolve the damage. It was taking a lot of work to heal her and everyone was pleased to know that school was letting out for summer the next day.

Bella smiled up at her and spoke, "I know that I did a lot of horrible things, Helga. And that includes trying to kill you when I first got here. I am sorry for that and am very glad that Harry stopped me. You are a marvellous person and I pleased no harm came to you."

Helga smiled and caressed Bella's stomach which had increased only slightly in the last two weeks. "I am happy we can help you. When you are recovered and can go about on your own, you do know that Godric Gryffindor intends to ask for your hand in marriage?"

The black haired woman's smile faded. "I think it will take awhile for me to agree to that- if ever I do. In my own time my husband is very much alive. So is the man who has been using me for his own sick pleasure."

Helga reached over and took hold of her hand. "You are healing nicely, Bella. That does not mean that the minute you are decalred well that we will want you to make a choice and move on. There is plenty of time and lots of things can happen before then."

Bella nodded then asked if she could have a sleeping draught so that she could rest while they worked on removing a few of the spells that had been cast on her. The potion was given and she sank back into peaceful sleep.

Helga sighed as she once more rubbed the bump that was Bella's twins. Her hands rubbed moisturizer into the fragile woman's skin as her mind turned back to the work of the day: preparing for the leaving feast. The upper years would celebrate with a masked ball and the younger years would celebrate the end of term with a carnival and a dueling exhibition.

The duel would take place later at night after the children were back in the castle and cleaned up after being out in the heat running and jumping about all day. Anyone who has participated in a greased pig contest will tell you that bathing is not an option!


	11. A kiss is just a kiss

Disclaimers: If this were original fiction that belonged to me you would have probably had to buy the book in a junk shop. As it is, JKR still owns the Harry Potter universe and I give her express permission to play in my sandbox here since she lets me play in hers...

* * *

Severin grinned as he walked down the hall to fetch his lady. The sun had set a few minutes ago and when it did Harry had turned back into the stunning creature. Sev was obviously not gay, but he knew his brother was. When Salazar saw the boy he was going to do his best to attract his attention. Sev was going to make sure that his older brother knew that he owed him for this one!

Harry stretched languidly in the middle of Severin's bed. He had spent the day sleeping and regaining his health. First order of business was a bath. Second was getting dressed, third was going to the kitchens and getting some food from the house elves. Then he would probably just spend the rest of the night sleeping and hopefully tomorrow he would be ready to get up and move around again.

Things went just as he planned until he walked down the hallway and peeked into the Great Hall. The banquet was just starting since everyone would be up most of the night cavorting with their friends. The older years were in formal wear. The younger ones were decked out in festive gear that was casual but classy. He was about to finish his trek to the kitchens when Severin and Isadora materialized behind him. "We have been looking for you, Harry." Sev said.

"Why?"

"So you can come to the dance with us, silly boy." Isadora said.

"I should not intrude. I am quite sure I shall not know anything about the dance."

Severin took out his wand and flicked it over Harry's robes. They were transfigured to look like the ones he was wearing and Isadora handed him a half mask that resembled some of the modern Mardi Gras construction.

Harry was dragged into the Great Hall between Sev and Isadora and led over to the Slytherin house. Older students looked at the figure of the mysterious person who was laboring under the curse of being a dragon by day and a man by night. Most of them agreed that it would be no hardship to stay up and play all night if this boy were there with them.

Salazar had watched his brother and his fiancée standing at the door for several minutes waiting on something. He had not thought the dragon boy would be what they waited on. He had not thought about the boy at all since breakfast. There had simply been too much to do and too little time to get it done. After Salazar left the hospital wing where each of the founders had removed two spells each from the crazed woman, he had spent the day finishing the younger years grade reports, took a turn monitoring the fair so that it would be safe and fun, and then he had supervised the registration for the dueling tournament. He had been looking forward to seeking his bed after he took his turn around the dance floor with the ladies.

And then he saw Harry, Prince of the Underground, and grandson of a future Goblin King. The boy was beautiful; ebony hair, alabaster skin, lips like cherries and eyes of emerald green. He was a perfectly painted portrait in the flesh. One of the things that intrigued Salazar, who followed the Roman custom of clean house and bathed body, was that Harry was clean and neat of his own volition.

He intended to make the boy's acquaintance before he left for his quarters. He saw Sev's smirk and knew that he had arranged it so that Harry would catch Sal's eye, but the boy was too intriguing to be ignored. At any rate why would he be so petty as to ignore the gift that Sev had even wrapped for him? He was actually quite flattered that his brother thought enough of him to honor him with such a gift. It never crossed Salazar Slytherin's mind that Harry might not be interested in him; he had said that they could make beautiful music together!

No, Salazar Slytherin would make sure that he at least snatched a kiss from the gorgeous tempter. He had to wait until after the feast and the dueling, but he was a patient man. One did not reach the age of 23 without learning some restraint.

Harry sat at the Slytherin table and felt the eyes of most everyone in the room on him. He was used to people staring so most of it did not bother him, but someone out there was causing him to pick up vibes that were making him feel uncomfortable. He had caught the attention of a predator, and that could potentially make things very difficult for him.

Severin felt Harry move closer to him and looked around. Isadora had also noticed and moved closer to protect the boy she had already decided would make a lovely little brother. The two looked at each other and wordlessly communicated. Sev finally said, "I think that it is Salazar who is staring so hard that you are feeling uncomfortable, Harry. Do you want me to go over and ask him to tone it down until later when you can get him alone?"

Harry's face registered shock at Severin's words, but the teen merely waited for that to pass so that he could read either the interest, or disdain. Harry decided to let Severin in on a secret. "I am interested in Salazar. But, I am not going to become just another one of his conquests. I know that I am one of the last virgins in my class at school who is not bound by a contract stipulation, but I am not interested in having sex just to change my status. I want to save my virginity for my spouse."

Severin grinned, "Well, then I shall just march myself up there and explain to him that he is not to pursue you unless he has honorable intentions."

Harry shook his head in disbelief at Severin's antics. "I don't think it will be necessary."

Isadora distracted Harry while Severin rose and walked off. "Oh, but it is terribly necessary, Harry. Once Severin informs him that you have stated your intention to remain chaste until you consummate your bonding vows, he has no choice but to drop his pursuit unless it is for the same purpose."

The boy flashed his lovely white teeth. "I really do enjoy some of the customs and courtesies prevalent in this era."

Isadora turned to look at him to see if he were joking. In a horrified voice she said, "You really are serious? Are things so bad in your own time that a person has so little free will?"

He felt the anxiety well up in him and raised his head to the ceiling in order to avoid Isadora's direct gaze. "If I do not find a way to break this curse on me things will not stop at bad. If either one of the two men I mentioned the first night we spoke get the upper hand and gain control, the whole world may end. Neither one of those men are the 'snuggles little bunnies' type. They don't care for who, or what, they destroy just as long as they can say they are the winner."

Severin returned and slid back into his seat. "I spoke to Salazar. He listened to what I could remember of your words. He respectfully sends his apologies and requests the honor of the first dance."

Isadora smirked at Harry's dumbfounded look. "What Severin meant was he repeated everything verbatim and when he did Salazar recognized the truth of your words and that established intent. The intent then activated the bond which everyone here is under."

Harry's unease was palpable. "What bond does everyone labor under here?"

Severin smiled at him, "No, Harry. We do not labor under the bond. All of us take it willingly."

"What bond are you talking about?"

Slytherin smirked at the younger boy, "The bond we speak of is to love, protect, and cherish each person we encounter as an individual. It is a derivative of the Wiccan rule that states: Do what you will so long as you harm no other."

Harry sank back onto the bench and relaxed slightly. "That oath is no longer administered at Hogwarts. It would keep too many people safe because the Headmaster, himself, is the one doing the most damage to everyone."

The other two nodded and went back to eating.

He was just attending to his own meal when a boy across the table from him asked, "What do you mean by Headmaster? Is the future so bleak that there is only one house left?"

Harry looked up at the confused countenance of a Slytherin that could have been Charlie Weasley. "No, the school population is actually about three times what it is right now. By my calculations though there should be probably twice as many as attend though. We still have all four houses but the Headmaster has created dissention and encourages house rivalry to the point that last year it was completely unsafe to walk the halls unless you traveled in packs."

The boy nodded his understanding and went back to eating. The rest of them around him heard and understood that without saying so, he was on a mission to save the Wizarding world. After all it was a place of learning and a dragon traveling back in time to bring them a woman to be healed who carried the blood of two dying noble houses was a source of great interest. The boy did not look at anyone as he said, "We were not introduced, but my name is Opus Nigellus Dumbledore. Your being here both wounds me and thrills me in that my family still exists only to find that he has obviously fallen into dark habits."

Harry smiled at the boy. "Fear not, Friend. Albus is only one. Your other grandson, Alberforth is a decent, hardworking man. He runs a pub where he welcomes all and turns away none unless they overstay their welcome."

The boy smiled fleetingly and returned to his meal. "I am glad that you are helping the lady though. Isadora has told us what she knew of the trials she faced. It is a wonder she has even survived."

Everyone in this time period believed in sharing information and Isadora had monitored the course of treatment on the witch being confined upstairs. It was not that there was no Doctor-Patient confidentiality; it was simply such a small world that everyone already knew she was there and receiving treatment. Her appearance had made her part of the family and everyone was concerned about her. Isadora had also sat in as student teacher for the Medi-Wizarding classes where she discussed Bellatrix's treatment and possible repercussions with all seven year groups.

The conversation turned to lighter subjects as the meal progressed. Three of the Seventh year students had entered the dueling. A big, burly looking lad who later introduced himself as Marcellus Goyle, called down the table, "Sly, are you dueling this year? Master Slytherin said any students in years Five, Six and Seven could have a go at it."

Severin grinned and shook his head no.

"Why?" Opus asked.

"Because he will be traveling with me to Provence, and I insist that he be healthy in order to help protect me and my four sisters from the dangers of the road."

Opus smirked as he looked at Isoadora. "You and your four sisters should insist that your victims start out healthy. It does give them a better chance of getting away."

"He won't get hurt." Goyle snorted.

Isadora looked across the table with a smirk on her face. "I'm quite sure that no one at this table could hurt Severin in a fair fight."

Harry looked up with laughter on his face. "I could hurt him. I think it would be fun to kick his pompous arse around that dueling platform." He waited until both Severin and Isadora were grinning at him before continuing, "He seems to think that since I am more beautiful and smaller built than his dame that I am a wimp in need of protection."

Everyone at the table began to laugh and call out for the duels to begin.

Godric stood as the noise grew and raised his hand for silence. "What call you for, Table Slytherin?"

Severin stood and bowed to the Dueling Master. "We ask that you accept another duelist into the program."

"You would duel, Mister Slytherin? I thought you had said you would not so that you would be in optimal health to escort your lady to her home."

"Yeah, I did say that, Master Gryffindor. I speak of our young guest. He has just assured all of us that he is capable of holding his own in a wand fight."

"What say you, young dragon?" Gryffindor queried. "Were your words in jest or would you like to try your education against these brutes Master Slytherin and I have trained."

Harry stood and bowed to the man who was obviously Master of Ceremonies. "As part of my thank you to your fair school I shall consent to be part of tonight's entertainment."

Gryffindor returned his bow and added, "So be it. We have an odd man out in the Fifth years. I shall make him the last fight in the Fifth year round and you may compete against him."

Harry smiled and nodded before sitting down. "I think I've just been had, yes?"

Severin grinned in return. "Pretty much; you would not have dueled me unless you won the Fifth year title and I won the Sixth year."

Harry mock glared. "Well then I shall have to make sure I take the title. Then I will have bragging rights that you knew what was coming and chickened out."

Isadora grinned and hugged Harry. "That is the spirit, little brother. Don't let these big idiots trample you just because you are smaller. You may get trampled eventually regardless, but make them work to do it."

Harry accepted her advice. "My sister speaks words of wisdom. So shall it be done."

The tables were moved back and the head table was transfigured into a dueling platform.

Harry watched with interest as the first set moved to the platform and went through the proscribed protocol. By the time the other three sets were finished he had figured out most of their spells and dueling styles. He finished his match in less than two minutes.

He received a standing ovation as the Fifth year class accepted that he was as good at dueling as he looked. Going down the line of Fifth years and shaking each individuals hand and making a personal positive comment about their fight also went a long way to easing any hurt feelings.

The Sixth year duels went as the school predicted it would. Their champion was a tall pale boy who was introduced as Edmund Peverall. Harry sat up and took notice of him. This boy was possibly one of his ancestors. He made sure to keep his mouth shut regarding the fairy tale made famous by Beadle the Bard. He was not here to influence history and possibly cause it to be redirected.

Seventh Year had the highest number of duels, but they were all disappointingly quick. Octavious Malfoy nodded to the crowd as they roared their approval of his win.

Soon enough the three way duel was set and time began. Harry saw the two boys look at each other and nod. If they thought they were going to double team him and take him out they had another think coming. Malfoy cast the first spell; a binding hex. And then the free for all was on. Harry did not wait for the spell to come anywhere near him, he dived right behind Peverall and cast an 'impedimenta' at him from behind. A quick summoning charm and Harry had his wand. Then he began casting an array of curses, hexes, and charms that left Malfoy completely bewildered and helpless. Something inside Harry had come loose when he saw the two of them agree to eliminate him before commencing to duel each other.

It was not until Salazar walked up to him and wrapped his arms around him that Harry lowered his wand and calmed down enough to submit to the arms around him. "Shush, Harry. It is alright. You won. Let's go sit down now and rest until the music starts.

Sal kept his arms around the figure of the trembling teen. He had been on the receiving end of those two teaming up on others before and was not completely unhappy with the results of the duel. Dueling was serious business and it was never discouraged when people developed styles that worked well. The problem had been that no one could have known that Peverall and Malfoy would try their personal dueling style on someone who did not know they dominated the doubles style dueling division.

Salazar fetched Harry a cup of mulled wine off a tray being carried around by a happy little house elf then sat beside him while he sipped it. "Would you like to talk about what happened up there on the platform?" He asked softly.

Harry slumped in his seat. "It was stupid. I saw the two of them exchanging signals and knew they were both going to attack me at the same time. I don't like being attacked by gangs because my cousin and his friends catch me and beat me up all the time."

Salazar glared at a point somewhere out in space and an atom started weeping because he had hurt its feelings. But, that is another story so we will get back to "What is happening right now" between Sal and Harry. "Have things degenerated in the Wizarding world to the point where wizards seek out and destroy other wizards just because they can?"

He was flabbergasted when Harry said, "Actually, yes."

The look on Sal's face helped Harry throw off his funk and he slowly started to reintegrate himself into the party. Eventually the singers up on stage were drunk enough not to care if people listened or not and just made music so they could cavort around to their hearts' content.

Harry stood up shyly and held out his hand to the tall blond man. Harry giggled and admitted, "This is kind of weird because in my own time, the Malfoy family looks as you do, and I keep wanting to call you Draco when I am not wanting to kiss you until I don't remember your name at all."

Salazar's impossibly blue grey eyes darkened to the shade of storm clouds. "I think I might like that too. We shall have to wait a few more minutes though before we find a comfortable spot where we can relax and get acquainted better."

Harry murmured his agreement just before Helga came and took him away from the blond who suddenly lost his smile and glowered after the dancing figures of the boy he was quite sure was his mate and his friend. He wanted Harry back in his arms now, not just before the last dance started.

Harry never managed to get back to Salazar until the last dance though. And he only managed then because he walked away from one of Isadora's sisters and left her standing there pouting as he went to the arms he wanted to be in. Flashes of the fantasy he dreamed up while holding the chaos ball began flitting through his mind. As he wrapped his arms around Salazar's neck and felt Sal's arms go around his waist he spoke, "I was sitting on my bed one day at my godfather's house and called my familiar to me because I was lonely. He gave me his crystal ball that my grandfather had made for him and told me to look at it."

"What did you see?" Salazar's breath was warm against his cheek.

Harry felt his stomach flip. "I asked him how it worked and he told me that it would show me my dreams. I held the ball very carefully and was thinking about a kiss that I had shared with a friend."

Sal tensed slightly but Harry lightly ran his thumbs up and back down the sides of his neck and he relaxed again. "Continue, I am OK now."

Harry pressed slightly closer to him. "I began imagining who I should like to dance with and I settled on the image of a tall, lithe, blond haired man with stormy blue grey eyes. We danced for several minutes before I had the urge to raise my head and seek his lips with mine."

Salazar growled deep in his throat. "I think we can manage that." Without breaking rhythm, he eased Harry out to the balcony that Harry had imagined in his dream.

They stepped out onto the veranda and Harry caught sight of the horizon. His dragon senses told him that the sun would rise within the hour. He knew the fairy tale night was almost gone. He quickly reached up and twisted his hands in the silky blond locks of his dance partner. Seconds could have been hours as their lips slip together and parted to admit tongues so they could tangle and teeth to nip. Hands clawed at the others clothes, seeking purchase to touch skin to skin.

And then Harry began to feel the tingling in his blood that signified change was near. He wrenched himself out of Salazar's hungry arms and stared in shock at the passion starved man. Sal reached for him again, but Harry moaned and darted away.

Salazar stood there in shock. He did not know whether to cry, scream, or just go to bed for a few hours before everyone would get up and leave for the summer. He stumbled slightly and was caught by his brother who had materialized from nowhere.

He stared numbly at him as Severin spoke, "You did really well, Sal. I think that the little dragon will make you a fine mate. He just ran right now because he was worried that you would not want to see his curse form just yet."

Salazar finally snapped, "I have already seen his curse form, you idiot!"

Severin groaned. "You are pathetic. No wonder mother sent me here to take care of you."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means, you idiot, that Harry was afraid you would not like seeing him as a dragon only a few seconds after the two of you exchanged your Soul's Pledge kiss."

"We did?" Salazar was back to being the happiest man in the British Isles. "What color is our bond?"

Sev shrugged.

"I shall beat the living crap out of you and then see if Isadora Dupree will let you go home with her?"

Sev just grinned. "Shan't tell, and you can't make me."

Salazar was too happy to be riled up. He did catch his breath and look startled when Rowena stepped out of the shadows inside the room and looked out across the lawns of Hogwarts where some chickens and geese fought for space with a bunch of sheep that would need clipped soon. "I did not mean to witness your bonding promise, Lord Slytherin, but having seen it; I stand forward to testify that the bond was pure white."

Severin saw the pain in the pretty woman's eyes and realized that she had harbored fantasies of mating with Salazar Slytherin. He bowed to the unhappy woman, "Thank you, Mistress Ravenclaw. You do my family and my brother a great honor to speak up for him. I, Severin Sterling Slytherin, announce to the Old Gods that I too saw Salazar Stefan Sterling Slytherin make a pledge with Harry James Potter to bond and remain together for eternity."

Salazar had tears falling down his cheeks as he reached out and embraced both people who were with him. It was barely audible between sniffles, but he managed to choke out, "Thank you both....so much."

In the darkest part of the shadows a smallish Black Welsh dragon watched the happenings with his heart ready to break. How could he force Salazar Slytherin to uphold a bonding promise when he could not remain in human form very long? Salazar would eventually grow tired of him never being around and would look for companionship where ever it was to be found.


	12. Are you my mommy?

Disclaimers: Please and Thank you to refer to chapter 1.

Eventually the school was emptied of students except the orphans who lived there full time. Harry was surprised to find that there were twenty-five orphans ranging in age from ten weeks to twenty years in age. There were two twenty-year-olds who had lived at the castle since they were three. They grew up there and considered the place as their home. They helped take care of the babies and provided a family for the younger ones.

He wondered why Dumbledore insisted that orphans could not stay at Hogwarts; had he been the one to change that rule. It would have been an awesome childhood for Harry to grow up the way these children were. To live in an environment that accepted you and your talents was an intriguing idea that he intended to explore if he ever returned to his proper place in time.

It was lonely though without Sev and Izzy, as he took up calling her as soon as she let him know that it irritated her. Visiting with the little children was not a good idea because he did not want them to get the idea that all dragons were fun and safe to play with.

He decided to go visit with Bellatrix. On his way through the ward he noticed that there were a few people who weren't attached to the school in the infirmary. He stopped and observed one young man who had been hunting Auruchs and managed to break both of his legs and an arm. Well, he had not deliberately broken the bones. The Auruchs had actually trampled him. Helga had repaired his rips and tears, but had no way to mend the bones he found after he had taken some parchment and wrote the question out for her.

Harry did not think that he was doing anything special when he lined up ingredients and showed her how to brew Skelegrow. The original brewer had been lost in obscurity and was therefore free game to introduce at any point he felt.

Helga knew a good thing when she saw it. She took him around to all the beds and explained their symptoms and treatment so far. If anyone wanted to complain about the dragon clicking along beside the Medi-witch, they did not say anything. Harry helped with a few things that he had learned from having the Potions Master from Hell as his instructor and a Medi-witch as his surrogate mother.

Life in the 10th Century was a lot like it is now. Success was not defined by how many patients were saved, quality of life was a crucial issue. Even for the patients Harry had no way to fixing completely, he was able to make them a bit more comfortable. It boggled Helga's mind that 'modern' medicine sometimes vanished bones and re-grew them purely to perform cosmetic improvements. She soon saw the benefit of it though since it seemed to help heal the mind also. It made her sad on more than one occasion that she had healed a physical wound only to have the person end their life because there had been a physical deformity that they could not adjust to.

Eventually he made it to Bellatrix's bed. She was restrained but seemed to be awake and alert. Harry sniffed the air around her and noticed that it seemed a lighter shade of black. He wrote on the parchment and had Helga read it to her: Greetings, Cousin. You are looking better. Is there anything I can do for you while you are staying here?

Bella was having one of her lucid moments and answered nicely. I should like to have some mushrooms fried in butter and a piece of cake made with chicken eggs and fresh cream.

It might have been odd for some to see the dragon bow to her and leave, but Bella found it perfectly acceptable. Leave it to Harry Potter to remember that a pregnant woman would have cravings.

Harry clicked his way down the hall and floated down the open stairwell instead of walking until he reached the offices on the second floor. He tapped gently on the door and opened it only far enough to hear if someone spoke. He never entered strange doors these days unless invited to by their occupant, or unless he had a damn good reason!

Snape had once traumatized him by exposing him to the concept of role playing and sex on the desk with Professor Remus Lupin and he had never opened a door without inquiring whether someone was inside again. Apparently they had forgotten to apply both locking and silencing charms to the door and when Harry knocked he heard someone scream, "CUM." Only since he was expected there to serve detention at that exact time he thought the person had said, "Come." Along with the psychological scars, Harry had since developed an obsession with speaking and writing English correctly.

Salazar was sitting at his desk with his feet propped up, looking out the window when he heard a tap on the door. "Who is it?"

His wand was trained on the door as it open a bit wider. He was about to lose his temper when he heard the hiss of dragonsong. "Harry, get your scaly ass in here before I blast you." He snarled.

The dragon cheeped at him as it hid its bulk behind the door. Finally, it stuck its head around to make sure he was not going to do what he threatened.

"Where have you been, Harry?" Salazar asked. I thought you might be by to see me before now?"

Harry began talking a mile a minute, explaining that he had been up in the hospital ward helping Helga with some of the cases she was finding difficult. He told him about remembering how to brew the Skelegrow and a few other simple potions like the boil cure and the wart remover.

"So, did you want to brew these potions with me, or was there a different reason that you came to visit?" Sal asked when he had finally wound down.

Harry blinked his big green eyes lazily, and spent a few minutes trying to focus. He did not remember moving across the floor to stand next to Salazar, and he certainly should have been able to remember hunkering down and laying his head across the other man's lap, but here he was and the gently caressing hand on him had him purring. It was then that Harry realized he had only stopped talking because Sal had comforted him into a state of bliss.

The man giggled as he rubbed his hand caressingly from the end of the snout where a few whiskers grew up to the top of the dragon's forehead. "What would bring you here to see me, huh?" Then a finger massaged the top of the eye ridge and caused it to close.

Harry did not manage to regain rational thought until Salazar removed his hand completely from the dragon. It took a few seconds before he managed to remember, "I visited with Bellatrix while I was with Helga and I asked her if there was anything she would like."

"You asked that hag what she wanted."

"Well, I have a friend whose older brother is married and his wife is expecting a child. He keeps going on about her asking him for different foods at the oddest times of the day and night."

"So you thought you would ask her if she wanted something." Sal had a strange look on his face. "I can not imagine being nice to that woman. There are things there in her mind that are beyond gross."

Harry shook his head lightly and hissed, "I don't want to know what is in her mind. What you have to understand is that no one knows what part of that was what she did willingly, or what was implanted by the people using her. I cannot honestly say whether we are going to have to put her down as a wild animal or if she can be saved. I hope that we can make that decision after she has the children."

Salazar felt him jerk out of his hold as the dragon sat back and lazily thumped his tail while thoughts whirled around in his head. He waited until Harry was ready to speak.

"Salazar, Bellatrix said that she had six daughters and that all of them had died just after birth. What chance is there that those children drained some of the dark magic off her and that is what is killed them?"

Sal looked at the dragon. "I don't know. Some of the children here at the school are orphans because their parents practiced the Dark Arts until they went insane. We have established that there is a very fine line between knowing when you need to have the ritual performed to remove dark residue and becoming so unstable that you no longer recognize that the darkness is choking you to death."

Harry looked at him curiously. "So what are the odds that if the purifying rituals were no longer performed that dark residue would build up in a magical persons blood stream and cause children to be born with diminished gifts or even to be squibs?"

Salazar shook his head. "That is an incredible theory and I would like to work on it with you. Let us speak of it more while we go into the forest and pick some mushrooms for the lady. We can even acquire some for the rest of us. And, when we come back we can take our piles of parchment down to the Great Hall and gather around it with our good friends where we shall discuss the effects of abusing magic while trying to raise children."

Harry nodded happily and thumped his tail in approval.

Salazar grabbed the side of the desk. "Stop the thumping." He squawked as the bookcase began to rattle.

The dragon lost its animation. but did not get its head turned fast enough. Salazar caught the gleam in its eye. "Oh, No! You will not give me a guilt complex. I saw that look, Potter."

The dragon dashed past him and leaped out the open window before he could get a hold on it. "Potter, you get your scaly arse back in here right now. Don't make me come out there after you."

Salazar might have been scary to the younglings, however, he did not do a good scary impression on the kid who had faced killer dark lords and Aunt Petunia already. Aunt Marge's dog, Ripper, had a better chance of making Harry cower than Salazar being domineering did.

Domineering? Harry blinked a few times as naughty images invaded his all too human mind. He fluttered over to a nice sized oak tree and proceeded to sit on a branch sturdy enough to hold a hippogriff. He was so distracted by what the word domineering meant that he shrieked and tumbled out of the tree when Salazar appeared beside him on a broom and ordered him to stop projecting his thoughts to all the reptiles before the Forbidden Forest had a population explosion. He then proceeded to tell the little dragon that when the sun went down he had better be ready to speak his vows in front of the other three because Salazar intended to show him exactly what 'domineering' really meant.

It was one happy little dragon that quivered all over before launching into the air again and following the gorgeous blond who had just found another use for dragon's blood. Trying to keep his mind out of the feather bed proved impossible. Even chanting the word, Mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms," did not help because every time he found one Salazar would send him an image of being rewarded for doing such good work.

They were having such a nice time that Salazar did not hear the approach of some 'undesirables' until it was almost too late. He had just bent down to pick one last mushroom to stuff in his gathering bag when he heard voices.

"What do you reckon made those tracks, Omar?" The first voice asked.

"Don't know, Durk. Probably one of those fancy pants nancy boys who work up at that castle they call a school. I'd like to make my way through there one of these days. I been told by me brover that there is a fine looking filly or two in there."

Salazar gracefully stood and moved into the shadows as soon as he checked to see if they were safe to utilize. He heard Harry snicker in his mind as the dragon felt the detection spell go past him. He asked, "Can you see them? How many are there?" In Parceltonge.

Harry used his dragon senses. "Be careful. They have already seen you. The third one is behind the same tree you have levitated yourself into."

Salazar grinned. "Only three? They come this close to my school, talk trash about Ric and me, and then threaten to accost the ladies. What say you we put the fear of Wizards into them?"

Harry did not answer. He merely stepped around to the man who was trying to get the other two villains attention without giving his location away and proceeded to tap him on the shoulder.

"What ya' be botherin' me for? Can't ya' see I be busy." He grunted all of that without bothering to turn around. "I'm trying to see where that feller went to that was just here."

Harry growled as he pierced the man's shoulder with a pointed nail.

The man turned around and saw a dragon grinning at him. What it actually said was, "Are you my mommy?" What the man actually heard was anybody's guess. He took two seconds to realize that he was being questioned by a living, breathing dragon and for all he knew it had just asked him if he wanted to be the main course for dinner that night.

Salazar had a front row seat at the spectacle and settled back to make sure the men did not hurt his darling little dragon. He found it more than passably amusing that every hair on the man's body seemed to stand straight up as he let out a shriek that probably had the banshees who lived ten acres over jealous. He then proceeded to run right past the other two while screaming, "Run, run for your life. There's a dragon right behind me."

They watched their friend run past them. They probably understood exactly what he said even, but they were just too stupid to care. They went back to discussing the women at the castle and how they would like to lift up their skirts and plow their furrows.

Harry sneered as he heard that one. "Figging farmers! They are so dense they don't even know to be scared of a dragon. "Never mind, get down here and let's see if we can teach them a little respect for wizards and dragons."

Salazar apparated down and landed right beside them, "Boys, I don't want to seem insensitive, but have either of you seen a dragon around here? I lost mine and I need to get him back before he decides to eat someone. I thought he might be here because I just heard a man go running past screaming something about a dragon."

The really big, excessively stupid one who liked to plow furrows of a feminine kind looked at him. "Hey, you are one of them that lives up at the castle ain't ya'?"

"Salazar Slytherin, and yes, I am a wizard." He bowed formally and the two looked even more stupid.

"Ah, what you be looking for?" The smaller of the two scratched his louse infested head as he took in the appearance of the wizard who seemed to be almost as stunning as the females they had been discussing.

"My dragon. He is a Welsh Black. Ghastly tempered little thing, but he tends to keep the bad sort out of the neighborhood if you know what I mean."

Omar looked at Dirk. Dirk looked back at Omar. It just sunk in on them that their friend had just ran past screaming about a dragon.

Then when the fear factor had risen to an appropriate level, they heard an animal give its death scream. Salazar turned slightly and said, "Maybe that was him. With any luck he has found something to eat and he will leave the villagers alone now."

The two still insisted that things could not possibly be as bad as this guy made them sound. As they were talking quietly between themselves, Harry finished gutting the deer and sliced off a nice big leg. Peeling the skin off it, he stepped out of the shadows so that everyone could see him holding up the chunk of raw meat.

Their eyes about popped out at the sight of the dragon.

Salazar marched over to him and rapped him smartly on the snout with his wand. "No eating raw meat. I just had you de-wormed."

The dragon tossed the meat into the air and let out a flame of fire. Before it could reach the ground Salazar had cast a levitating and rotating charm on it. The meat was soon cooked to perfection. He reached into his belt and pulled out his eating knife. Slicing off a strip of meat from the roast, he popped it into his mouth and chewed. The village idiots were still staring. Salazar asked them politely if they would care to have a bit of supper with him.

Both of them sneered at him and started to move forward in a threatening manner.

The dragon roared and sent a trail of fire directed at their privates. Both men screamed and ran away with their breechcloths on fire.

Harry shook his gorgeous little dragon head and complained. "The first guy to run away was much more entertaining."

Salazar shook his head in agreement. "Yes, I know. All you did was ask him if he was your mother. And, he went and totally overreacted."

Harry sniffled a bit and added, "Quite right, quite right."

Salazar shrugged, "Maybe he completely misunderstood you."

Harry nodded his agreement this time. "Yes, there really is something to be said for pursuing an education. If he had understood me he might not have made such a social blunder as to run away from a child before he kenw whether I needed help or not. How was he to know I am not a lost kitten?"

"There, there, darling. Let's gather up our deer and return to our castle where there are beautiful women that need plowed.'

"I shall leave it to you to explain what those twits meant.

Salazar hissed in dissatisfaction. "I always get all the dirty jobs. I don't want to do it."

Harry hissed right back at him. "Of course you get the job of explaining. And only you would complain about having to teach vocabulary words to sex starved women."

Sal winked and purred, "So blow me if you're gay too."

The dragon gathered the deer in one talon and Salazar and his broom in the other and apparated back to the front lawn. While Salazar was getting back on his feet from where Harry had dropped him, several people came out of the castle.

Salazar quickly explained to everyone where they had been in the forest and what had happened. He also served warning to the women that they were in danger outside the wards of the castle. Helga and Rowena just laughed at the plight of the two oafs and promised to teach the other ladies what they could regarding how to handle the villagers.

The meat was set to cooking by the house elves along with the rest of the cooking and baking frenzy that elves indulged in as soon as they heard Salazar ask Godric if he would perform the bonding ritual for them.

Godric was pleased to help Salazar and really did want to make amends for almost killing Harry. He started writing the details of their contracts down, but came to a halt when he asked, "Harry, what is your full name?"

Salazar translated, "Harry James Potter, son of James Potter of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter, and Lily Marie Evans of the Angio Veela Court, France."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen at the end of July."

Godric glared at Salazar. "Why have you picked a boy who is not even sixteen yet as your spouse?"

Salazar shrugged. "I am not exactly long in the tooth, my friend. I only just turned 23. That is only a seven year difference."

"Where is your current Family seat located?"

Salazar duly repeated, "Snowonia, Wales."

Gryffindor raised an eyebrow. "We just set a fifth generation Potter home from his second year to that address. Chances are it is the same family. I cannot let you two take your bonding vows until you verify whether or not your head of House gives his permission to join houses."

Salazar glared and threw up his hands in frustration. "OK, you win. We will not be bonded this evening." As he turned around and viciously kicked a rock , Harry gave one unhappy squawk and disapparated away.

Rowena stared in shock at her usually unflappable friend and secret crush. "Salazar and Harry kissed this morning." She announced. "When they did the magic of their intentions activated a soul mate promise."

Gryffindor whirled around and looked at her. "Why was I not told about this immediately?"


	13. School's out for summer

Disclaimers: If this were original fiction that belonged to me you would have probably had to buy the book in a junk shop. As it is, JKR still owns the Harry Potter universe and I give her express permission to play in my sandbox here since she lets me play in hers...

* * *

Salazar was feeling miserable because the hum that was Harry's magic was gone and had left an empty space where things had felt fine before. He did not know what to do except to go to Wales and look for the Potter family. It was going to be a long summer if this kept up. He turned to Helga and said, "Harry wanted to make sure that Bellatrix was treated with some dignity. Just make sure that she gets some of the foods she craves since she is pregnant and make sure that Godric remembers to brush her hair for her. Harry mentioned that it might help her become accustomed to him if he began touching her gently in a non-threatening way on a regular basis."

Godric turned around to listen. "Harry gave me permission to court his cousin?"

Salazar nodded his head. "He said, quote, Make sure that Godric spends some time in the company of Lady Bellatrix, but always with other ladies in attendance. You are to be allowed to bring her small gifts to cajole her mood swings also. He also said that although insanity seemed a trait of the Black Family, they are often calmed by music. She especially enjoys the flute and the Harp."

Helga and Rowena nodded their understanding. Godric admitted, "I shall endeavor to keep her as comfortable as I can. I removed another two curses from her and one seems to be helping with clearing out the massive amounts of **_Imperio_** she has suffered. "

Sal did not know what else to say except that he was really pleased with the little progress they had made on Bella thus far. He asked Helga to keep meticulous notes regarding her care because after he found Harry and brought him back, he wanted to set everyone down and talk about the effects of not doing the purifying rituals. He was running through a mental list of what all he needed to do before he headed off to Wales to look for his beloved when he remembered promising Harry that when they got back from the forest that they would take their piles of parchment down to the Great Hall and gather around the table with their good friends and discuss the effects of abusing magic while trying to produce a child.

Now, instead of talking around the table with his friends, he would need to make a trip to Wales. He did not like going to Wales although the Slytherin family actually had land there where some of his relatives maintained a sheep farm that was quite successful.

As he stood there looking toward the direction he should be travelling, he was dragged into an unhappy memory of some ten years before when he had last been to Wales. He and his father had stopped at their farm before visiting the Potter estate. It had not been a pleasant visit. The day after Lord Slytherin and Salazar had arrived; the other squire, a fat muggle by the name of Harvey Jones, had accused Potter of stealing his sheep. Only the presence of Slytherin had prevented the locals from rioting and killing the whole family. They had managed to get Jones to take the matter before the district court. The charges had been read and Potter and two other wizards had given testimony that they did not take any sheep from anyone. Then they stood and listened to local muggle after local muggle lie about having seen Potter steal their sheep.

Potter had stood and calmly asked, "How many sheep did you see me take from your land?"

The muggle had replied, "A score or more, not counting the lambs."

"And how many lambs?"

The muggle had scratched his head and admitted, "I don't know how many of the ewes had dropped by the time you rounded them up and took them away."

Salazar had stood by his father and listened as they lied about the sheep. When they were done the court read out the verdict. "Mr. Potter, you are required to deliver to the gates of Jones Manor, twenty ewes with lambs following."

After the verdict was read, Aaron Potter stood and declared, "Henceforth, Potter properties shall become inaccessible to non-magical folks. I grow weary of the non-magical people of this area making their living by gathering the fruits of my labor. My family has always helped this town, but no more. Once the sheep have been delivered, you pilfer no more from Potter lands. From here on out only the pure may enter Potter House."

Slytherin and his father had helped Aaron Potter cast the muggle repelling wards along with several protection wards. Potter land was actually more secure than Hogwarts simply because Potter wards were developed to keep all those who wished the Potter family harm out, regardless of whether they were muggle or magic. Blood pure of any taint of malice toward Potter holdings would still be able to shelter there. No one else would be able to see it.

The next morning they had taken the sheep to the Jones house and had knocked on the door as the judgment required. Jones had answered the door and accepted the sheep and signed the contract that stated that the court judgment was now cleared.

As Jones moved to close the door, Potter stepped forward and said, "When you admit that I did not take your sheep and you go before the courts to clear my name, only then will I honor the marriage contract that we have been negotiating toward for the last five years regarding your son and my daughter." He had then bowed to the shocked Squire Jones and turned to leave.

Jones, angry at being called a liar and then told he would have no further access to Potter goods, knifed Potter in the back. Potter recognized that the knife was a death blow and did not even mention to Slytherin, his friend of some fifty years, that he had been wounded. The old man rode most of the way home before tumbling from his saddle. He died before Salazar or his father knew he had been harmed.

Lord Slytherin had posted the details of Potter's death in both the Wizarding Registry for Wales and the muggle court where he took the knife removed from Potter's back and handed to the magistrate. After seeing the look on the magistrate's face, Slytherin calmly cast a cleaning spell on the knife and left it there. There would be no justice for Aaron Potter at this time.

Jones heard about Potter's death soon after Slytherin's visit to the sheriff. He immediately gathered several local farmers and attempted to gain entrance to the Potter Estate.

Safe behind the wards, Mrs. Potter and the children watched as Squire Jones took the road that he usually travelled and then spent several hours wandering around the hillsides with no clue regarding where he was. Slytherin had already helped the younger Potter, a man of some twenty-two years, assume control of the wards and had strengthened them. With the disappearance of Potter Manor hard times began to fall upon many who depended on the largesse of the magical world to achieve a comfortable living.

Salazar shook himself out of his memories. There were things to do and he needed to pack for the trip. Sal reckoned that he had several hours of daylight still so he should be able to get to Wales before dark. However, apparating from Hogwarts in Scotland to one of his family's minor homes in Snowdon was a bit draining if he did not break the trip into two pieces. He did that by stopping at a pub called the Broken Broom in Blackpool where he normally rested for half an hour while downing an ale. He had made the trip several times with his father when he was younger so doing it now was no problem. Even his internal clock had it down to the second just how long he needed to wait.

* * *

The dragon had no such problems. At least one trip would not burn him out. If a team of wizards caused him to force apparate some ten times he might feel the strain. In the meantime, it was good to be so strong.

Harry went straight to Gringotts in London. He was actually lucky enough to show up in the same spot that the large white building would be constructed on. The site, at present, had a standard block building constructed of native stone- Gringotts was in business as far back as 996 AD. The white building would rise sometime in the 1400's after a Goblin Rebellion caused the current building to be leveled.

He still had a few hours until nightfall before he would return to his human form so he caused a minor stir in the alley when he appeared. He took one look at the people standing around staring at him and his little claws went pitter-patter up the steps and into the bank. Lucky for him there were not many customers inside, and definitely no one who wanted to cause trouble for the black dragon who was chattering excitedly to a bored looking goblin.

The dragon had refused to enter the 'stable' where a few guard dragons were housed. The goblins left him alone after he had taken a sheet of paper and after dipping a claw delicately into the ink pot had written that he was a actually a human who had been cursed and needed to speak to the goblin king.

He was quite the happy camper to find that when the sun set and he returned to his human form that he had all his equipment and the crystal ball from his grandfather with him. Several goblins gathered around and watched him as he sat in a chair, drew his feet up, and proceeded to go into a trance as he tried to communicate with Jareth. Talking to the Potters was all good and fine, but the ones he really wanted approval from were his grandparents.

The first indication that making contact with Jareth was successful was the appearance of a glowing orb appearing and rolling toward one of the walls where there was a bit of empty space. Everyone immediately turned and stared at the ball of light as it expanded to proportions suitable for Jareth and Sarah to step out of it.

The current Goblin king who looked at the two new guests cocked his head to the side and questioned, "Jareth, is that you?"

Jareth approached the older man and after hugging him and giving an affirmative answer, turned to the dragon-boy and gave him a hug also. The goblins spent the rest of the night catching up on what the family was doing in the 20th Century as they waited for Harry to return to his dragon form before calling it a night (or day) and going off to catch some sleep.

The Goblin King was happy enough to sign a contract stating that Harry was permitted to wed one Salazar Slytherin, son of Lord Slytherin, currently a resident of Cardiff, Wales. It was a recognized fact that Harry would not be staying in the 10th Century, but would be returning to the 20th Century with his spouse, Salazar, after they were wedded. A bride price would not be paid to House Slytherin at this time, but when the couple returned to Harry's correct time they would be permitted to call upon Gringotts and receive several gifts which would be put in storage for them.

* * *

Harry arrived in Snowdon approximately a day later than when he left Hogwarts, exactly where he intended to be. In the 20th Century, he had been to his home several times and knew the area quite well. He chose to arrive in the town and meet with a few people before he headed out to the 'house'. He did not get a huge reaction to showing up in the middle of a busy Wizarding shopping district simply because he was not the only dragon around. There was a reason the Welsh had their names pasted on so many different dragons. It was also common knowledge that several of the farmers over produced their sheep herds in order to sell some to the dragons directly.

It was Harry's luck for the day to meet Squire Jones on his way out of the Snow Globe Emporium. The old man was in a bad mood because he had encountered Rosalinda Potter, the girl his son should have married some ten years ago, and she had given him the cut direct. It was no secret at this point that he and a few other pathetic individuals had lied about several law suits. The only reason he was still free was because Myrridan Potter had not called him to court regarding the wrongful death of his father.

So when the old muggle smashed the door open and it smacked the little black so hard that it cut his wing he let out a roar of pain and immediately went into defensive mode. The roar caught most everyone's attention and they stared at the spectacle with wide eyes. As the moment dragged on more bystanders seemed to appear. A few minutes later, when the sun sank behind the horizon, they were all caught by surprise by the boy standing there with his wand pointed at what appeared to be his elder.

The sheriff, who was also an auror, finally arrived at the scene and immediately began to ask Squire Jones what happened. The old man glared at the boy and said, "I came out of the emporium and he," here he pointed to Harry, "was in dragon form. He screamed at me and everyone stopped and started staring. Bloody nosy fools anyway."

The middle aged auror who was known to harbor a dislike of Harvey turned to Harry. "What do you say happened, son?"

Harry sneered at Harvey. "I was coming this way because Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry broke for summer break yesterday morning. I was in dragon form because I was cursed by magic itself to be a dragon by day and a man by night until I champion a cause set by magic and win. I turned back to my human form when the sun set some four minutes ago. I was standing here, " He moved to the spot where he was when the door smashed into him, "and that man flung the door open so violently that it flew open, hit my wing, and ripped a gash in it."

The Auror looked at Harry's bleeding arm. "Would that be the wound that caused you to roar in pain?"

"Yes, Sir." Harry responded.

"That's a lie. I didn't touch the little bastard." Harvey Jones shrieked.

The Auror turned to Harvey and glared.

Rosalinda had no such problem. "He did not say you touched him, you overbearing old wind bag! He said you slammed the door open and the force of the door hitting his wing ripped it open."

Everyone nodded in agreement. Harvey shrugged and started to step off the boardwalk. The auror stopped him with a simple question, "Squire Jones, where do you plan to go?"

"I'm going home, boy. There is no law on the books that say I have done a crime by hitting a dragon with a door."

The Sheriff smiled at him maliciously and said, "I beg to differ with you on that statement since I could have sworn that just last month you pushed through a law regarding the harming of dragons that was crafted to say that wounding dragons in any manner for any other reason than sheep stealing was going to be punishable by one lunar month in the local holding facility."

"We don't have a local holding facility, you twit." Harvey growled

The Sheriff smiled at Rosalinda, and Rosalinda smiled back at him before saying, "Just two weeks ago a set of stocks were built in the local town square." She pointed to the stocks which were currently being used to hold the town drunk that had been caught stealing. "By my reckoning, that is the local holding facility." She smiled sweetly at him and then said to the Auror, "Since we all know that Squire Jones is guilty both by his own admission and the testimony of everyone here, we need to take him over there and put him in his incarceration device."

The old man howled in rage, but it did not do much good. He finally played the sympathy card on Harry. The Legitimins grinned at him and shook his head no. "Sorry, I won't intercede for you. You are perfectly healthy, and you are not even sixty years old, so that is not old either!"

The Sheriff/Auror looked at Harry. "What was that all about?"

He smiled. "Never lie to a magical creature because we can tell when you speak whether it is the truth or not. He just told me that he was old and sick when he stared at me."

Police the world over are overworked and under loved. William Weasley was just another statistic. As far as he was concerned it was also another bad day in a long line of bad days. He pulled out his parchment scrap and asked the boy what his name was.

"Harry James Potter," the boy replied.

A man stepped out of the crowd and looked Harry over before saying, "Harry Potter is not part of my family. I refuse to claim him on the grounds that if he carries Potter blood he is a bastard. He can go live somewhere else. I will not feed, clothe, or care for him."


	14. Arguments in the dark

* * *

Disclaimers: If this were original fiction that belonged to me you would have probably had to buy the book in a junk shop. As it is, JKR still owns the Harry Potter universe and I give her express permission to play in my sandbox here since she lets me play in hers...

* * *

Harry shook his head while looking at the new man. "You and I shall have a nice long talk sometime in the next day or so. In the meantime, I am going to ask you to remain quiet since you do not know the circumstances of my being here. You open your mouth and say the wrong thing, you invoke magic accidentally, and then we have a big mess. So, silence, please."

Potter looked like he was about to argue, and probably would have, until his twin sister, Rosalinda, moved over to his side. "Hold your peace, Robin. The wind of change blows here." Rosalinda Potter had a touch of the sight so when she spoke those who knew her listened.

Robin Potter had been twenty-two when the pompous Squire Jones had murdered his father. He still remembered having to take control of the family when he really was not ready to. His sister had helped him a great deal during that time; he would listen now. He nodded toward her and stepped back to watch. He was also determined to take care of his family. There would be no more thievery from Potter lands by the scavangers who lived in town and made their living by stealing from the magical folks; he had vowed that some ten years ago.

Mattias Potter, his son, slipped his hand into his father's and tugged gently. Robin looked down enquiringly and Matt nodded toward Harry. "He be the time traveler, Pa. Don't cross him 'cause he's better than Slytherin at wandwork."

The older man's eyebrows almost disappeared into his hairline. He turned back to the effeminate looking boy and started paying attention.

Squire Jones decided that since Potter now had everyone's attention he should leave while he had the chance. He had just jerked his arm away from Constable Weasley when he felt a power surge and saw Salazar Slytherin materialize some five feet away from where the angry Harry Potter still glared at him.

Slytherin, acting in the capacity as the highest ranking lord at the gathering, turned stormy blue-grey eyes toward the crowd. "What is the meaning of this gathering?"

Rosalinda whirled and smiled at Sal. "Salazar! Greetings, my friend."

"Rosie," was said in a clipped tone as he noticed that Harry was holding an arm that was bleeding sluggishly. "What happened to your arm, Harry?"

Jones couldn't manage to keep his mouth shut. "The little bastard claims I hurt him when I didn't touch him."

Salazar stared into the pompous face of the arrogant sot he had last seen ten years ago. "I can believe that. A knife in the back is more your style, isn't it?"

Jones was not quick enough this time with the knife. Harry saw him reach for something and stupefied him as his fingers made contact with the hilt. As Jones rocked back and then forward, Constable Weasley caught him and held him up. It was obvious to everyone that he had intended to inflict damage to Salazar Slytherin because the knife had slashed through the sheath and nicked his leg.

As everyone stood there staring in horror at Jones, Harry spoke, "I have travelled here from a thousand years in the future. Maybe that is what magic wanted me to do, undo the wrongs that you have done to so many of the people around here." He turned to the crowd that was still avidly hanging on every word spoken and said, "I call a special session of the Welsh Wizengamot this time next month under the authority of Magic itself. Anyone with a grievance against Lord Harvey Jones may place their name on the docket and their case will be heard."

Constable Weasley, Rosalinda Potter, and several others raised their wands and chanted, "So mote it be." Magic erupted from their wands and bound the request as a decree of magic.

Weasley shook his head at the struggling man. "Right, come on, Squire Jones. This has been a long time coming and I hope that while you are here that you learn something from it." It only took a moment to levitate him down the street to where he wanted him.

As Harvey was locked into the magic suppressing stocks he looked up the street and became so angry that he started frothing at the mouth. Potter and several of his friends were making fun of Jones and the old geezer certainly was not enjoying it.

Harry watched the man and wondered if he should give him a calming draught or just let nature take its toll on his temperament. He finally broke down and went to his ancestor's murderer, "Here, drink this."

Harvey growled at the boy, but opened his mouth to have it poured in. When the vial was empty he felt it plucked from his hand and turned in time to see young Lord Potter sniff the vial and hand it to a pinched looking man who could only be a Prince.

The man, Potions Master Prince, announced to the crowd who was still lingering that the boy had given him a high quality calming draught. The magical suppressors on the stocks would not affect any medications given Squire Jones and he had not been harmed. Salazar could not help laughing when the crowd booed. It was almost a given that Constable Weasley would need to erect wards around the stocks to keep people from meting out excessive punishment on Jones.

Young Lord Potter waited a few minutes until the crowd had calmed down slightly before asking Harry what he planned to do until the month was over and the cases against the squire were reviewed.

Harry shrugged. "I have a bit of money. I can stay at the inn. I am not completely without resources. I will need to purchase enough ingredients to brew some potions that we will need for the court reviews, other than that I have very few needs."

Potter nodded his head. "Mattias arrived home yesterday and we have not had time to catch up on everything. He mentioned just now that you are the time traveler that he met just before he left. If you are one of our clan we welcome you to our home."

Salazar answered Potter's bid at hospitality. "Your kindness is most appreciated, Robin, but I should like to take my fiancé to Slytherin holdings and introduce him to those of my family who are in residence at this time. If it is not too much trouble though, I shall bring him by your home in a day or two." He smiled to take the sting out of his refusal of the offer.

Robin acquiesced after watching Salazar pull a small vial out of his cloak pocket and apply a dollop of the unguent to Harry's wound. He watched, fascinated as the two of them communicated by just staring into each other's eyes. Finally he looked back down at the hand residing on his own sleeve. Smiling slightly at his son he asked, "Shall we leave Harry in the capable hands of Lord Slytherin then, Matty?"

The boy nodded vigorously. "Yes, Papa. Let's go home and tell Mama that Harry will be visiting in a few days." Then the impertinent boy added, "Besides, if you bring Harry home now Mama is liable to have a fit because she likes to clean house and cook before company arrives."

His father laughingly slapped him up side his head as he rolled his eyes and agreed with the boy; Slytherin just might have the better idea. As the Potters and Salazar were discussing when the best time to call would be, the crowd parted to let an incredibly beautiful woman come forward.

Salazar went rigid when the scent of a hunting Veela hit him. His head raised and his eyes were molten silver as he glared at the one who would attempt poaching his mate. Then he hissed in anger, "Serena!"

Serena approached them. "My brother." She bowed to Salazar then turned to Harry. "Father has been informed of your arrival in town and wishes to have you join us. It would be an honor if you would let me escort you to my father's house. House of Slytherin is most pleased to come to your aid. Our door is always open."

Harry flashed a grin at her. "It seems to me that if it were not for House Slytherin I would be dead in this world already. It is an honor to know House Slytherin."

"Why would you say that?" She asked.

Harry's breath caught as he noticed the witch upping her Veela charm just a wee bit from what she usually kept it set at. "Serena Slytherin, turn off your Veela charm or suffer the consequences." He muttered. When her eyes widened in shock he answered her. "Your brother, Salazar, is my mate. The primary reason I came here was to get permission from my Head of House Potter to wed before my birthday which falls at the end of July."

"Permission granted if you prove to be a Potter of my line." Came the response from Robin Potter.

Harry smirked, "I was already disowned. I don't need your permission any longer."

Robin grinned and said, "YOU have not even been born yet. So, of course I can't disown you. I don't even know which set of Potters you are derived from and therefore cannot remove you from the family."

They were bickering amicably a few minutes later when Salazar Slytherin's father arrived on the scene unnoticed until he spoke, "That is a lovely bit of logic and I am pleased to hear you reclaim this man because he will be an important part of history."

Harry laughed and turned to hide his face, but Salazar's father would have none of it. He strode up to the younger man and wrapped his arms around him, bent down and kissed him continental style right there in front of everyone.

Salazar pulled Harry back from his father's clutches and wound his arm around Harry as he looked at the people standing around. "Do the lot of you not have somewhere you could go? I don't think that hanging out here in the dead of night is going to do much good for your health." He narrowed his eyes and continued, "Especially when Potions Master Prince tells you to sod off because the reason you wound up sick was you had your nose where it did not belong."

One woman opened her mouth. "No, we are fine. We want to know what happens next."

Harry raised his head from where it was resting on Salazar's shoulder. "If you nosy twats want to know what happens next, I suggest you go buy the book." With that he pointed his wand straight up and chanted a watering spell that wizards often used in their modern greenhouses. The only problem was that Harry was probably three times as powerful as your 'powerful' wizard and these people had never heard of a greenhouse. The effect was rather traumatizing for most of them and they immediately vacated the area before they could provoke any further anger.

Serena huffed in annoyance before letting Salazar embrace her. "You do have the devil's own luck. Are you sure you want him? He's a bit scrawny and would probably do better with a woman to take care of him." She asked Sal as she eyed Harry up. Then since Salazar had not lost his temper she added, "If you are too tired to dual apparate Harry I will be happy to take him home. After all, it is exhausting travelling all the way from Hogsmeade."

Salazar kept Harry in his arms. I stopped in Liverpool and rested for half an hour before I went home. When I saw you were not there, I flooed over to the Shattered Ward and followed the crowd of gawkers to here.

"Oh, so you have been home already?"

He nodded yes, then added for the benefit of his dense sister. "I actually came home yesterday, Serena. I spent most of last night catching Father up on what is happening in the Highlands and the Midlands."

She looked terribly put out at that statement. "Oh."

"Yes, Oh." Old Lord Slytherin glared at both his children, knowing that if he did not do something to separate them they would start fighting over the beautiful boy who obviously had already picked the one he wanted.

He turned to Robin Potter and said, "We accept your offer of hospitality and await your owl." Then he grabbed Selena's arm and apparated away as soon as he saw Potter and he and the wizards he usually hung out with all apparate away.

Salazar bent and kissed Harry's neck. "Are you ready to go, my dearest?"

Harry scowled. "Why do I keep getting saddled with batty old, mean, insensitive people I have to take care of?"

"What?" Salazar asked.

Harry pointed to where both the town drunk and Harvey were shivering in the cold night air after having been soaked in the shower he created. "I can't leave them here like this. If either one of them got sick and died I would feel guilty forever."

Salazar looked at Harry disapprovingly. "I for one think that you should leave them. However, if that great puddle is to be what enables us to break the curse on you like I want him to be, we had best take care of him."

Both men glared at Harry. Salazar had casually cast a drying spell on them, then added a warming charm. Harry had cast a scourgify on each one of them separately, twice!

When Salazar saw the results of Harry's spell he immediately wanted to learn it also and immediately apparated them back to Slytherin Manor where he had Harry teach everyone the spell. After they had it down, the house elves were summoned and ordered to learn the spell. The ecstatic elves tried to keep Harry up the rest of the night with their insatiable desire to learn more and better household charms than the rest of the Wizarding world had at the time.

Harry was passed out in the guest chambers sleeping off his exhaustion when Salazar snuck in about an hour before day break to kiss him awake and tell him he loved him. The feel of Salazar's mouth against his woke him from a sound sleep. He immediately twined his arms around Sal's shoulders and deepened the kiss until they both felt like they were going to come apart in each other's arms.

Sal drew back and sat on his legs looking up at the mussed picture of his betrothed. "You look totally gorgeous debauched. If I had not made the vow to wait until after our wedding for the sex, I would strip you bare and show you all the pleasures that a body can give and receive."

Harry growled adorably and asked, "All of them?"

Salazar could not stop the smile that graced his aristocratic face. "Every Merlin blessed one of them. When I finally get you into bed I shan't let you out until you have recovered from total exhaustion brought on by too much pleasure."

That sounded rather ominous. "You do know that I am a stronger than average wizard, don't you? For you to say that is all well and good, but if you are going to vow it you might think twice about it just on the off chance that you could die before I ever get tired of you."

Salazar's face lit up like Christmas had come early. "That sounds like a splendid way to go. However, I have never heard of anyone of Veela descent dying from exhaustion while pleasuring their mate." He then gave Harry a naughty giggle. "There is also the bit about Veelas search out the strongest wizards they can in order to reach their own ultimate pleasure."

Harry had time for one more soft kiss before the sun rose. Despite the fact that Salazar prayed that he would remain human with the spell broken, Harry resumed his dragon form. Salazar hugged him and petted his eye ridges before asking him if he would like to come upstairs and sleep a bit more before Lord Slytherin arose and began interrogating Harry despite the fact that he would be in dragon form.

The dragon nodded and thumped his tail happily.

Salazar glared at him and hissed a reminder to keep the noise down.

They climbed the steps and entered Salazar's room like an old married couple. Harry watched as Salazar removed his robe and bent to pull the covers away so that he could slide in. The sight of his perfect pale buttocks caused the human part of Harry's brain to shut down. Dragon was overwhelmed with the need and desire and in order not to break his vow of chastity until marriage, he disapparated once again.

Salazar laughed softly to himself. That had been mean, but he wanted to know if Harry really did want him. His Veela charm did not work on Harry, but the sight of his body had put the boy into a state that made Salazar blissfully happy. Now if he could just figure out how to break the damn curse.


	15. justice is served

Same disclaimers as always. No sex, no money, no rock-and-roll... That equates to no profiting from JKR's work; so hopefully she won't ask me to cease and desist making the boys get naked in anticipation.

* * *

Chapter 15

If he survived his month in the stocks, Harvey was definitely going to be a different man. Some even wondered if Julian Jones, his son, would bother to send someone to take care of his father's needs. It had been no secret that he was bitter about losing the marriage contract that was hours away from being signed since he and Rosalinda Potter had made a fine couple. Harvey changing might be too little too late. Of course from a certain point of view it would be nice if he would go to all the trouble of explaining why he had been such a pompous ass the last decade or so.

When Harry departed the house that morning to avoid molesting his intended that is where he went. The dragon landed softly beside the stocks and sat down quietly so that he would not wake the men who were sleeping. It had to be a hard position for them to remain in. By law, they would leave the stocks twice a day to take care of their bodily functions and address the condition that their physical health was in.

When Harvey awoke a few hours later he was surprised to see the dragon sitting there making sure nothing untoward happened to him. "What are you here for, boy?"

Harry had to mentally project his answers to him, but they managed to have a satisfactory conversation. Harvey was not as upset about being locked up as he had been, but Harry knew it was going to take more than a few days in the stocks before he finally admitted that Julius had every right to let him die there for what he had done to the family's reputation over the years. Progress would be slow and Salazar would have to be there when they discussed what the Wizengamot was going to cover. The main concession Jones made that day was admitting that he would need to plea bargain before the trial, or he would most assuredly face the death penalty.

That set the tone for the month. When Harry was not organizing the Wizengamot docket he spent his days either as a sleeping dragon or his human nights awake and planning his wedding with the Slytherin family. He also made sure that he did not make a fool of himself again like he had done at the sight of Salazar's nude body. Tempting fate was one thing…

Preparations for the trial saw Harry talking Julian Jones into providing Harvey with a lawyer. True, it was only a courtesy since the lawyer would be using veritiserum, but it did prove without a doubt that no mistake was being made by calling Harvey Jones to account for his misdeeds. During the course of the interviews Harvey told the lawyer about stabbing the previous Lord Potter and causing him to die well before his time. He broke down in tears as he was forced to deal with the destruction he had wrought.

Tears, they say, are a step toward healing. It might be true. I don't know.

The day of the trial was bright and sunny which heightened the local feel of carnival. Harry, as chief prosecutor for Magic, had cast a complex summoning spell on the whole sphere of influence regarding Squire Jones's Social and Economic impacts. Magic interpreted the spell to mean that anyone with a complaint against Squire Harvey Jones would be compelled to attend the trial and air said grievance. Magic even set an order of precedence in which it would let one person at a time rise and air said grievance. Needless to say, there is a reason class action suits are so popular.

The end result of the trial was that Harvey was stripped of his freedom and a spell was placed on him that forced him to take up the job of house elf. From the day he was sentenced until the day he died he was compelled to clean and maintain the Welsh Wizengamot chambers in pristine condition.

At the conclusion of Harvey's trial there appeared to be a general lightening of the atmosphere around the town and the surrounding countryside. It was into this arena that Julian Jones entered with the intent to complete his quest to marry Rosalinda Potter. He begged that the last item of business for the day be that the reinstatement of his petition be entered into the books from whence it had been stricken a decade ago in retaliation for his father committing murder without incurring penalty.

Robin Potter was about to agree when Salazar and Harry stepped forward. Robin recognized them when they requested to speak.

Julian Jones stared in horror at them when Salazar explained that the wards that were set around Potter's house were blood purity wards: you could only access the farm if you had no intentions of harm to any Potter. He spoke in a shaky voice, "I have walked past the road that I know leads to the Potter Farm at least once a day for the last ten years and never saw the path."

Harry shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly. "Then maybe you had better reexamine the reason why you want to marry Rosalinda Potter. Sort out your motives and maybe the path will become clear."

Lord Slytherin blinked in surprise at the profound statement his son's intended just uttered. Then he made the mistake of looking at Rosalinda Potter. The woman gave him a blinding smile before throwing back her head and letting loose a great howl of laughter. He shook his head in confusion of why the woman would not be a little more upset, but Harry's synopsis had just been too damn funny and he found himself giving in to the hilarity of the situation.

Julian growled at the laughing crowd, but felt better when Rosalinda stepped closer and tried to explain in layman's terms; what had been done was the wards would sort intent. It was a concept that tied into the very foundations of the Wizarding society. Blood purity can have so many meanings. But, they all tie back into the purifying rituals to keep one's magic working properly.

He finally decided that there was some amusement in the statement when Rosalinda pointed out the double meaning of the wording. First was the fact that Julian obviously harbored some animosity toward the Potter clan which he would have to sort out before the tract leading to Potter holding would become visible to him. Second, he would need to examine his reasoning behind continuing his suit regarding Rosalinda. Was she a convenient habit at this point, or was there a deep abiding love which would flourish through the years?

The trial had been exhausting to organize and execute. The aftermath left Harry and Salazar feeling worn out. While others were reveling in the streets the two of them apparated back to Slytherin Keep and settled down to catch up on some well deserved sleep. They were cuddled up together drinking summer wine when Peridot showed up. The reunion between boy and familiar had Salazar feeling almost jealous..

When the two were finished with their greetings though, Salazar did not know whether to laugh or cry. After the little dragon gave Harry a dressing down for leaving him back in the Twentieth Century, he began explaining to Harry that along with being Harry's familiar, as a miniature dragon, he, Peridot had the capability of surfing time. He could literally lock into an event or person's signature and make his way to them. He was capable of portkeying anyone who was in direct contact with him to wherever they needed to go. King Jareth had sent him to retrieve Harry and whoever else needed to travel forward with him.

Harry, having travelled back in time, saw the immediate benefits of a controlled slide through time with a guaranteed landing date at the other end. The only other question he had for Peridot was: when do we have to make the jump back to present time? The wedding, although preparations were underway, was still a few days out, and neither Harry nor Salazar wished to go forward until the Slytherin family had celebrated it. It could be moved up a few days if the goblin contingent which was scheduled to attend arrived earlier. With that thought in mind, Harry sent Peridot off to visit with the current goblin king.

As they waited on a response from the current goblin king Harry could not help but laugh as he explained to Salazar what happened when he went to Gringotts before coming to Wales. The sight of Jareth and Sarah stepping out of the crystal portal filled Harry with overwhelming relief. The goblins had not really believed him when he said he was the grandson of a future king, and had held him at spear point until his story had been verified. Harry's first words to him grandmother had been, "Uh, Grandma, a little help over here?" His huge green eyes sparkled with life- or fear.

Sarah laughed, "Look, Darling. Our little grandson is exactly where you said he would be. We should probably have the guards lower their spears and stop threatening him so badly though, don't you think?"

Jareth shook his head at his wife's antics. "Darling, I need you to calm down. Obviously Harry is in good shape. After all, we spoke to him just a few days ago."

Harry managed to stand up and brush some of the dirt off his robes. "How long has it been since I took Bella away, Grandfather?"

Jareth smiled, showing pointy teeth. "It doesn't really matter how long you were gone. What counts is if I can get you back into the same timeline as the one you originally exited."

Harry nodded his understanding. "Yes, I can see that." Then he gave a dumb look and added, "Actually, I don't see. What exactly do you mean?"

Sarah dissolved into laughter as she watched her husband staring blankly at the beautiful boy.

Finally, Jareth shook his head, "We need to have a serious talk. Right about now even, yes?"

As he was standing there scowling at his favorite grandchild, said, grandchild nodded his head in agreement. "Yes, Grandfather. I am just trying to get done what I know needs done." Then he cocked his head to the side and admitted, "I'm not sure it will be enough."

Jareth gestured imperiously and the goblins ran to fetch him chairs, table and tea set. They also sent word to the current king that he had a time travelling set of royal descendants in the VIP room.

Sarah was the one who pulled Harry down on the couch into a hug before speaking. "Spill everything that has happened."

Jareth nodded his approval and Harry began explaining. He spoke of Bella causing the snake to appear and bite the man, their travel north, Harry's imprisonment by Godric and his rescue by Severin, Bella's slow progress toward healing… When he spoke of the trip he and Salazar had made into the forest both grandparents were howling with laughter. The rest of the goblins were having a fine time listening to the story also.

Once the goblin king understood the situation, he had no problem drawing up a contract stating that he gave permission for Harry to wed Salazar, son of Lord Slytherin. He did ask that the other man, Lord Potter, be given the chance to add his blessings to the union also. He then sweetened the deal by escorting Harry, Jareth and Sarah down to the beginning of the elaborate tunnel system and had Jareth pick a vault for Harry. It was immediately filled with gold, jewels, and copies of many rare texts which the goblin nation had acquired over the course of Gringotts being operated as a bank.

All the fun stuff having been accomplished, Harry and the goblins had returned to the surface and spent the rest of the night and most of the next day feasting and dancing. Before everyone departed for their respective destinations, Jareth had taken Harry aside and explained that he would send Peridot to him when it became imperative for him to return to the Twentieth Century. He would try to arrange things so that Harry had enough time to present the contract to Lord Slytherin for his approval and give the man time to verify Harry's 'dowry' before the exchange of vows if he so desired.

Peridot's return from Gringotts with a letter from the king gave Harry an exact time frame for getting everything done. He had spent a week at Hogwarts before it let out for the summer, one day at Gringotts with his family, and almost five weeks with Salazar as they sorted out Squire Jones. Jareth was allowing two additonal weeks for their honeymoon before having them return to approximately seven hours after they had originally portkeyed out of the Department of Mysteries. They would be returning to Hogwarts in time to catch the Hogwarts Express back to London. The goblin king would be arriving for the exchange of vows two days hence and the ceremony would commence at sunset as the new moon began its ascent into the heavens.

Harry was pleased to note that his birthday would fall one day prior to the wedding. He would not actually need anyone's consent to wed. But, it was nice to know that both families supported the match. With all those questions settled, his turned his attention to rising sun. The all important question remaining was: Would he once again become a dragon with the daylight?

* * *

A/N: Yes, it has been awhile since I have worked on this story. I have most of it done, actually I had most of it done before and never felt the urge to finish it. However, I am now feeling the urge to write again so maybe I can get back into a groove. I know this chapter is slow, but I beg your indulgence since it is a transition chapter...


	16. History in the Making

Back in 2008 Dragon's Dreams was my NaNo entry. I never finished posting...so, I am using 2011 NaNo as an excuse to review and rewrite the ending of this story. And, it has completely changed from what I first envisioned.

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DRAGON'S DREAMS

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Chapter 16: History in the making

Due to the fact that the British Isles is positioned so close to the Arctic Circle, with a bit of Scotland actually being inside the zone, the sun rises quite early in the morning during the summer, roughly four A.M. if memory serves me correctly. Harry had little time to stress about the curse being broken since justice had been served on Harvey Jones. His first choice for spending the day was with his tongue stuck in his favorite Veela's mouth while they exchanged saliva. However, that option did not present itself as he turned back into a black dragon.

Harry was so angry and upset at life that he gave an indignant squawk and apparated himself into Lady Slytherin's solarium where he spent the day sunning himself and breathing fire at her embroidery every time she tried to speak to him.

Lady Slytherin, a veteran of the 'Dragon Wars' courtesy of a younger son who was a dragon animagus already, simply reapplied the fire-proof charm she had learned to cast on all her linens and kept stitching as she spoke to him regarding what she felt could be done to break the curse. Obviously he would need to start making a list of the problems he knew about and systematically work his way through them since the first challenge had not done the deed as he had hoped.

She stayed with him the rest of the day and walked down to the great hall with him when he reverted to human form. On the way down they discussed a few ideas that Harry had already been introduced to. Harry told her that Jareth and Sarah had mentioned the possibility that Harry had needed to come back in time and collect his soul mate so that they could re-introduce several customs and courtesies which had been dropped or forgotten over the years.

It was left to Lord Slytherin to explain to the folks living on Slytherin land that Harry was still a dragon. Although Harry had righted several years worth of wrongs by bringing Squire Jones to justice, that was not the ultimate task for breaking the curse. Everyone was terribly disappointed to see Salazar without Harry, but breathed a sigh of relief when he announced that the wedding would still be two days hence as planned. It would simply commence after sunset instead of at midday because Harry refused to take his vows in dragon form.

Lady Slytherin insisted that Harry sit beside her as they dined that evening. In between bites of simple foods made delicious with natural seasonings, a discussion was held regarding what else might need to be done before the curse was lifted from Harry. The Slytherin family was none too pleased to be losing their first heir, but Severin was recognized as a fine son and a worthy choice to carry on the family line. Somewhere in the discussion it was pointed out that Serena and the other children could be counted on to maintain the glorious name of Slytherin once Salazar went into the future with his mate.

Salazar was happy to move forward in time even if it did mean leaving his family. He would have loved to remain in the 10th Century because there was so much happening, but he had to be with Harry now that they had met and began the bonding process. There was also the added incentive to learning more than would be possible if he remained in the here-and-now. He was already having problems separating knowledge, customs, and irreverent trivia between the two time periods due to the mind link he had with Harry that enabled the two of them to exchange thoughts and memories.

Salazar was not about to admit to anyone in the 10th Century that he could not wait to move forward and get his hands on books pertaining to Organic Chemistry, Physiology, Aeronautical Engineering… Oh, but the subjects were infinitely fascinating and he was ready for the challenge. Harry's memories of electricity, gas powered lawn mowers, and the Hogwarts Express had the blond ALMOST too excited to think about sex the requisite time of every six minutes.

After the meal was over and they had retired to one of the semi-private family rooms Salazar did his best to make Harry feel better by teasing him that they should just move their bedchamber into the dungeons since he was sure it was a matter of sunlight causing the change.

Harry laughed and added that they needed to honeymoon in the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts if that was all it took.

Salazar looked at him strangely, "The Chamber of Secrets?"

"Yeah!" Harry nodded enthusiastically. "That great big chamber you supposedly built under Hogwarts; you know it has the snake statues and a basilisk. Then there is the really ugly statue that Tom Riddle says is of you."

Salazar glared at Harry. "Surely you jest? That chamber is for purifying rituals that one should undergo while studying the Dark Arts. That statue is supposed to be a replication of the first magic wielder. The thing looks like a monkey in dress robes I think!"

Harry giggled. "True. And, after looking at it I expected you to look like a monkey."

Salazar shook his head. "Honestly, Harry! How can you say such things when you know that I am beautiful?"

The unrepentant dragon-boy shrugged lazily as he hissed, "It probably has something to do with you being perfect. Next you are going to tell me that you are capable of carrying our child and demand that I impregnate you immediately."

The blond threw back his head and laughed. "Trust me when I say that if it were possible I would demand that. The only thing that keeps me from screaming and running away over the idea that we will have to bond with and bed a female to beget heirs is the fact that magic will make sure she is appealing to both of us and she will be receptive to both of us."

He watched Harry's eyes widen in shock and then added, " Possibly together."

The black haired boy blinked several times before managing to whimper, "But I don't like squishy breasticles and stinky muffs."

Lord Slytherin heard that comment and looked at his soon to be son. "Breasticles?"

Harry flinched. "There are females with bosoms so big they could be used as dirigibles. I swear to Merlin that their chests take on a life of their own."

The laughter following that pronouncement had Harry trying to hide behind Salazar to avoid any further embarrassment.

Salazar reckoned he had better finish the discussion. He lowered his voice to a soft whisper, "Harry, we have no real choice in the matter. We are both from important houses and we will need to produce magical heirs. I did not mention to father that the Slytherin line is extinct in your time. And you being the last Potter would not help the issue any either."

There really was not much Harry could say to that except to agree. "I guess we will have to find a female bedmate then because I think that the reason I have been forced by magic to complete a quest is because Magic wants to increase her presence in the world."

Harry retired to his bed to sleep for a few hours just after sunrise, happy in the thought that he and Salazar would soon bond. The only issue he had with the marriage was that it would set the clock ticking on when they had to return to the future. He genuinely adored his new family and was pained at the thought of being separated from them. He would just have to make use of the two weeks to help them improve their living conditions while learning as much as he could about life in 996 A.D.

* * *

The day before the wedding dawned bright and beautiful. Slytherin Castle bustled with life and magic. The whole structure felt like it was bursting at the seams with all the visiting Wizards and Veelas. By late afternoon the royal goblin contingent had arrived. Finding a spot for a bit of peace and quiet was almost undoable by late afternoon.

The goblin presence that showed up for the wedding between Slytherin and Potter contained the Goblin King himself. His Royal Majesty was a fairly likeable guy despite his exalted status and would often stop and speak to anyone who caught his interest.

Serena recognized the Goblin King first because he was slightly taller than the rest of the hoard. Rumor had it that he was quite magically adept and looked more human because his mother had been a witch who had stumbled into the goblin warren while being pursued by a pack of muggles bent on homicide. Rumor stated that the woman had been so traumatized by the muggles that she refused to leave the warren even after death and could still be seen haunting the tunnels and protecting goblins from harm. After observing him for a few minutes she decided he wasn't a bad sort and having him in Harry's family tree was probably not much of a hardship. She had definitely seen worse specimens.

Watching Harry and Salazar greet the goblins caused Serena to break down in a mild fit of despondency. The longing to find her mate had begun to manifest. Seeing their obvious happiness in each others company even while Harry was still stuck as a dragon was a bittersweet experience. Could she be so brave as to accept a life-mate of a different species in order to fulfill her heart's desire?

It was inevitable with all the psycho-analyzing Serena was doing that she would attract his attention also. When he first noticed her she was standing behind Salazar and Harry as protocol demanded, however, she did not seem to be enjoying herself and he wondered why it was that such a beautiful woman would dwell in shadows on such an auspicious occasion.

He finally got to speak to her after escaping his guards and making his way out to the orchard. He found her sitting on a bench under an apple tree loaded down with ripe fruit. Serena made a beautiful picture with her golden hair floating slightly in the breeze. Being a goblin, he could not resist the lure of gold and soon found himself lounging at her feet as he sang love songs to her in his native tongue.

Serena, having been educated properly, understood the songs and added her voice to his at such places where a duet required both male and female voices. Her rich contralto meshed nicely with his baritone and they made beautiful music together for several songs.

At the end of their impromptu concert Serena was invited to visit the goblin holdings and sing with him again some time in the future. History later stated that a witch of uncommon beauty, magic, and talent wed the Goblin King just after Yule. It was also noted that not only did this union bring peace and prosperity to both nations for some two hundred years; it also did much to improve the looks of the subsequent goblin royal family.

* * *

Dinner that night was a protracted affair due to the diversity of guests. Visitors were rare: visitors or a different species making a social call even rarer. Once the music and dancing had exhausted most of the younger set, the 'oldies', and a few insatiably inquisitive youngsters, settled back with cups of mead or apple cider and began discussing current affairs. Harry sat beside Salazar and listened to Lord Slytherin discuss the political situation in Wales, and most of Europe, with the Goblin King and the Veela Queen.

The Queen described the situation as dire; the people of Western Europe were suffering quite badly at the hands of the Vikings and other invaders. Raiding had isolated most of the magical communities and had severely weakened the central authority of the monarchs. She inquired about the decline in trade the British Isles was experiencing and warned Slytherin that if the trend continued there would be further economic collapse of several areas.

The Goblin King had the whole table enthralled as he explained the English economic situation. The weak monarchy was forcing the local officials to take over their own defense (thus creating a new system which would later be labeled Feudalism, Harry supplied to Salazar). Slytherin could expect the situation to devolve into a highly decentralized form of government while stressing alliances of mutual protection between monarchs and nobles of varying degrees of power. If Slytherin played his hand correctly he would receive more land in exchange for loyalty and support of the monarchy.

Slytherin was an ardent student of Politics and soon had both the Goblin King and the Veela Queen explaining the pros and cons of several trends besides Feudalism. It was a given that times were a'changing with the withdrawal of the Druids to the Island and the advance of Christianity. It would be up to the individual nobles as to how fast and terrible the onset of dark times would mar their holdings.

Harry and Salazar listened avidly and commented quietly to each other on points that they would have to research when they moved forward in time to 1996. They both agreed that the onset of Christianity would change the world. Already the Church in Rome had outlawed war except for some eighty days each year, and forbade fighting in churches sighting the concept of 'holy ground'. Other changes would follow.

Harry was quick to conjure a fountain pen and paper when the Veela Queen began expounding on what she knew regarding the sect known as Christianity. He knew some of the pertinent facts regarding the Holy Roman Empire because Religion was introduced in Primary School and was studied again in Middle School in greater detail.

He did not have the heart to tell those gathered that the Catholic Church would become the center of life for most people within only a few years. Harry remembered one lecture vividly because his teacher had gone into minute detail regarding the formation of the Papal Hierchy. The Pope became the strongest political figure in Western Europe with the collapse of the Roman Empire at the end of the Fifth Century. The Pope had based his claim on Peter the Apostle, the 1st Bishop of Rome, because he was chosen by Jesus to head the Church.

There really was no kind way to explain to the gathering that the Church had taken hold of everyones' lives because it provided a direction for them. The Druids leaving had left a vacuum in the lives of people who either would not, or could not, think for themselves. The Catholic Church emphasizing the seven sacraments added a measure of stability to otherwise turbulent times.

He did recommend that Slytherin sponsor a few Monasteries as they would become important in the next five hundred years to educate the young, provide hospitals for the sick, be a center for food distribution, and serve as guest houses for travelers. It would not be too difficult to slip a few wizards in as teachers since monks already dressed in simple long, loose, robes made of coarse materials.

They also discussed the importance of Hogwarts Castle as a center of learning for the Wizarding Arts. It had originally been started as a learning center by the Celts under a mandate by King Alfred the 1st after having a vision of what would happen during the 'Middle Ages'. After the Celts moved to Ireland Merlin took over the property and finished building the structure because he recognized it as a magically significant place due to several ley lines converging under it. It would serve as a good place to train the adept while the ambient magic strengthened their magical cores.

The school had been functioning since the late 960's, but had come to prominence under the guiding hand of first Alferic Gryffindor and the widow, Eglantine Hufflepuff. The school was now recognized as the premier magic school in Europe with the addition of their children, Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff, to the teaching staff. The further expansion of the curriculum and enlargement of the hospital under the direction of Rowena Ravenclaw and Salazar Slytherin ensured that Hogwarts would continue to be an innovative educational institution for several more decades.

From there the discussion swung to Slytherin's ability to hold his lands. Everyone understood the concept that all power a lord had derived from his ability to withstand and repel an attack. Slytherin was an old family and had already built fortified dwellings (castles) to protect their lands.

It was a simple fact of life that stone castles held up better than the wood ones... Castles were built for security, not for comfort; they were largely cold, dingy, and damp. That was one reason wizards were sought after by the nobility; they had the power to make life more comfortable for everyone living there.

Once again, the good folks fell asleep as dawn was breaking and spent the morning and half the afternoon thus. However, everyone was ready by the time the wedding commenced.

The ceremony began with Harry and Salazar being escorted to the Slytherin dungeons where they were stripped and scrubbed by their respective attendants in huge stone tubs of water that was piped up from the natural hot springs under the castle. After their baths, both men were dressed in their ceremonial robes and led to the heart of Slytherin Keep where an old block of native stone stood as the heart stone of the castle.

Never having seen a Medieval Wizarding wedding before, Harry was not terribly thrilled when Lady Slytherin stepped forth with a ceremonial dagger at the ready. He managed not to cringe when the man who would read their public vows moved beside her and indicated that she was to begin while he spoke. "Do you, Salazar Sterling Slytherin take this man Harry James Potter to be your mate according to the rites of Magic, for the strength and honor of your family, and love and nourishment of your own soul?"

Salazar smiled at Harry as he blinked away tears of joy. "I do. So long as we both shall live. In this life and into eternity if Magic so decrees."

The oath was then asked of and responded to by Harry before an incision was made on both men's right palms and then their hands were joined so the blood would mingle before dripping unto the heart stone. As each drop spattered, the celebrant recited a word of blessing: love, long life, health, wealth, children, wisdom, and strength. As the seventh drop hit the stone a dense fog seemed to rise from it and engulf the two being joined. When the fog dissipated a few seconds later both men's hands were healed and they appeared to be in perfect health.

The wedding party then went up to the Great Hall where Harry and Salazar repeated their wedding vows in front of the gathering. From there the crowd spilled out onto the grounds and began mingling as they congratulated the newly married couple before spending the rest of the night dining and dancing.

The two weeks allotted to them for a honeymoon was spent enjoying the whole experience. For their first night together Salazar apparated Harry to Stonehenge and they celebrated Summer solstice with the rest of the Druidic colony. (1) They also decided to consummate their vows there as part of the ancient fertility rites carried out at the full moon.

From Salisbury Plain, the two returned to Cornwall where they made the trip up the back entrance of the castle over the same route that Merlin escorted Uther Pendragonon the night that Arthur, King of Britain was conceived. (2.)

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**1. Summer Solstice is celebrated 23 July most y**ears. For purposes of fun and games let's say it fell on 31 July a thousand years ago.

**2**. Taken from the story The Chrystal Cave by Mary Stewart


	17. Take a Little Trip with Me

Chapter 17: Take a Little Trip with Me

Harry might have been on his honeymoon but he was mindful of the need to return to the future. He often used the crystal to communicate with King Jareth. While speaking to him, Harry asked him to verify that the vault the original Goblin King had set up for him and Salazar was still there and if it would be possible for him to access it for inventory purposes. He also asked that Jareth visit his friends and let them know that he was fine and would be back before school started if everything came together properly in the year 996.

The honeymoon was actually more of a working holiday than a leisure activity. Salazar was training with Harry in exchanging magic, and they were learning new spells, rituals, and general knowledge. Salazar was having a more difficult time with learning about technology that Harry was with the magical theory. It was a lot of hard work. However, they were having moments that would turn into golden memories with a little bit of age to them.

One such moment was when they decided to apparate back to Hogwarts and test out Salazar's theory that it was sunlight causing Harry to revert to dragon form. They commandeered the guest suite next to the bathing pool and proceeded to explore the concept of 'no sun, no change'. Harry changed back to dragon form exactly on schedule though, so obviously it was not that. Harry didn't bother to tell Salazar that the premise was flawed to begin with because he had turned into the dragon most mornings he had stayed in the dungeons previously. It made no sense to argue since they were having so much fun!

They also had to return to Hogwarts where several on-going issues needed to be dealt with. Bellatrix, the school charter, plans and programs for the school: the list was seemingly endless and time was vanishing rapidly. They had not left everything until the last minute; the month leading up to Squire Jones' trial had seen Harry and Salazar popping back and forth between the two locations as they attempted working issues that needed resolved before leaving for the future.

One such visit had Harry grinning as he recalled it. He had gone to visit with Bella, who was improving by leaps and bounds. Once she was allowed out of bed and had been escorted down to the ritual chamber by Helga and Rowena where they had all undergone the purifying ritual at least twice, she was beginning to glow with good health once again.

Harry had popped in to the infirmary to visit while in dragon form and rather than do mental projections he had conjured a small white erase board and a set of markers so he and Bella could communicate. Harry's version of English was like nothing Godric had ever seen before and the man had begged them to use Latin. He then gave up in tears as they informed him that his conjugations were incorrect and reverted to English since it was obviously more precise.

There had been other visits. Harry had apparated back to Scotland on a weekly basis to spend a few hours with Bellatrix. Before going into the castle he used his dragon senses to maneuver through the forest and bring her gifts of berries, herbs for tea, or fresh caught fish or fowl. And he always brought her a few mushrooms; mainly because he could never pass one particular tree without breaking out into dragon laughter.

Each time he visited Bellatrix she was visibly healthier which in itself was a miracle because she was carrying twins. One day she seemed genuinely pleased with his gift of bayberries and was trying to decide if she wanted to take tea immediately, or should she have the house elves make shortbread for her. It was days like that that kept Harry trying to save her. She was not only his cousin and carried the gift of life within her; she was an abused woman who seemed to have missed out on so many little things.

Along with thanking Bill for showing such concern for Fleur, Harry vowed to write Uncle Vernon a letter when he got back to 1996 and thank him for treating his own wife well and showing him and Dudley how to flatter a woman's ego with small presents and kind words. Vernon may have been a bigot and hated Harry on principle, but he took immaculate care of his Petunia. Harry did not have romantic feelings toward Bellatrix so the lessons had been modified to reflect sibling respect. Not only did Bellatrix understand his kindness to her, she was infinitely amused with the fact that Godric was romantically interested in her and he did not understand what Harry was doing.

Godric often ceased what he was doing and appeared in the Infirmary as soon as he received word that Harry was in attendance to Bellatrix. He usually used the excuse that she needed her hair done if she was going to entertain guests. That statement often led to the two of them bickering as he brushed and plaited her long black hair.

Bellatrix often stood as soon as he set the brush down and stamped her feet in vexation as her violet eyes flashed fire at him. "What do you expect to happen when my cousin comes to visit? Look at him. He is a dragon. You need not fret."

Godric would merely smile and insist that while she was at Hogwarts she was his to protect- even from her reptilian relatives.

Harry knew though that Godric visited Bellatrix at other times also. She had told Harry of the time Godric had brought her a necklace of perfectly matched amethysts to match her eyes he said. Muggles were of the belief that they had the power to ward off drunkenness. Wizards knew that they had the power to draw off dark magic from ones' aura. The stones were worth a minor fortune… They could also be cleansed by soaking them in salt water for several hours.

* * *

Harry and Salazar were sitting down to breakfast and enjoying their fresh baked bread with cream and honey when there came a large contingent of goblins knocking at the castle door. Jareth had sent them with a message that things were starting to deteriorate at home and Harry needed to come back and prove he was alive before the Ministry confiscated his vaults.

It grieved the king to admit it, but one of the goblins who had been in the party that opened the Slytherin-Potter Trust vault had taken the information to Dumbledore. Dumbledore had announced in open session of the Wizengamot that the goblins had opened a Potter vault and inventoried it. Since everyone knew that Harry Potter had not been seen since the Ministry of Magic incident that had occurred two months ago the logical conclusion was that Harry James Potter had slipped the mortal coil.

According to Ministry law, If Harry wished to disprove his death, he had one week from the day the Wizengamot discussed the vault irregularity to present himself to the court or lose the vault.

According to a new Goblin law invoked by King Jareth after what he termed the Betrayal of the Royal Family Incident, the goblin who mentioned any irregularity to a Wizengamot member without first obtaining the proper paperwork would have a zero life span the minute King Jareth found out about his misdeed.

Of course the Goblin King had to be part of the hoard who delivered the message. Most everyone thought it was because he felt it only right to visit with his grandson. The fact that the king slipped a small package into Serena Slytherin's pocket was not remarked upon. Or, speculated on…

However, Harry and Salazar did exchange significant glances before asking Serena if she realized that King was courting her. The evil witch just smiled at them and murmured that all men look the same in the dark. Since she was correct they let her deal with the gift giving king however she wanted to.

Getting back to 1996 turned out to be nowhere near the ordeal the boys feared it would be after listening to Jareth detailing the horrors of time travel using unreliable means. The actual event was rather anti-climatic after all the discussions involved. The discussions were eventually reduced to Harry asking the same questions and Peridot giving the same answers since neither Jareth, nor Sarah, mentioned that the miniature dragons were the only reliable way to travel.

When Harry discussed the situation with Peridot he found that the reason the small dragons were usually born in pairs and often bonded to people who were friends was because the little dragon's main function besides being a familiar was that they were actually time anchors. The time traveler could take the dragon with him and the dragon was capable of taking the person(s) back to the exact time they left. The speech did not vary after that information was disclosed.

Peridot had not travelled back in time with Harry, but with Jareth's help he had easily surfed through time until he located Harry. Getting back would be a snap since Lasulii was the beacon in 1996.

Jareth told Peridot to give Harry two days notice before bringing them back. He was to slide them into a time slot some seven hours after everyone else had returned to Hogwarts from the Ministry. That suited Harry's purposes perfectly. He had been in the year 997 for over two months and was ready to exchange the chamber music and basic diet for some Tom Petty music while eating his way through the display case at Dunkin' Doughnuts.

Compliments of a little black dragon, Salazar picked up the impression that Dunkin' Doughnuts were meant to be eaten by the gross, not the dozen. After finding that they were sweet yeast bread with cream filling then covered in more sugar, the Veela was up for round one. It was going to be 'iffy' whether one shop would have enough for both boys.

Harry chose to travel during the day so that he would be in dragon form. His reasoning was that Salazar would need help in taking care of Bellatrix if any problems occurred. He was quite sure that when they landed back at Hogwarts in the early hours of the morning that Dragon Harry would be a greater asset than human Harry if they had to deal with Dumbledore straight away.

Of course there was also the fact that Bellatrix was feeling quite vibrant. Or, was that vibrating? (Probably with rage while feeling the need to have a go at Dumbles) So, who was Harry to deny her a little bit of fun? IF she wanted to hex the old buzzard's balls off, she had a perfect right to. Harry would not only give her the chance to punish Dumbledore for some of the things he did to her, Harry would have her back while she did it.

Harry felt the warmth of Salazar beside him as they travelled back through time. The experience could only be described as falling through a swirling kaleidoscope. He was more than pleased that Peridot was there with him, making sure that he returned to the correct time-in-place.

Harry had tried several times to get Peridot to explain how miniature dragons managed to know exactly 'when' they were. His best explanation was that they were born knowing how to 'surf' time. They could go forward, but if they did they immediately reverted to egg form and had to go through the birth and bond cycle before they could assume a place in the new era. Obviously, Peridot had done that at some point prior to July 31st of 1991 since he could now travel to 1996 without 'egging'.

It became imprinted on the tiny dragons not to go far beyond their current chronological age unless they were on a mission. The other thing they learned never to do was take their bonded into the future beyond their chronological age unless they were prepared to disintegrate if they travelled beyond their life span. Time travel was very complicated future-wise…

Peridot had been Salazar Slytherin's dragon all those years ago. Just as Lazuli was Helga's pet. Both dragons had moved forward in time after Helga died and reverted to egg form while waiting for Harry and Draco to come of ago so they could rejoin them.

As planned, the group landed in the Headmaster's office some seven hours after the Ministry raid. Salazar and Bellatrix both gaped in surprise when Fawkes launched at Harry as he transformed back into human form since it was the dead of night. The phoenix was overjoyed to see him home and decided to check him and make sure he was safe and healthy before letting him out of his sight.

Other than Fawkes and Hat, the office was empty and the three travelers soon escaped even though Dumbledore had warded the door so that no one could enter or exit. Salazar grabbed Hat before showing Harry and Bellatrix a secret passage that led to the dungeons. They intended to spend some time catching up on what had been going on while they were gone.

Bellatrix was the one having the most difficult time with their time travel concept. The poor confused witch collapsed in exhaustion on a hastily conjured loveseat. "Can anyone please explain to me exactly where and when we are?"

It was a mark of respect that none of the males in attendance felt the urge to even snicker. Hat was the one who finally took it upon himself to explain time travel to her. He really is a brave soul. "What happened is…"

"OK, let me get this straight." She finally said in between bites of cheese enchiladas with a side dish of refried beans and Mexican rice, "We left 1996 two months ago, spent that two months in the year 996 (or thereabouts) and now we are back in 1996 and are at this moment in time two months behind the rest of the world?"

"Yes, that sums it up nicely." Harry validated.

"How in the name of Merlin's saggy scrotum are we two months out of sync with the rest of the world?" She snarled.

Everyone was saved from Bella having a melt down by an old female elf entering the room and speaking to her. "Mistress Bellatrix will be needing to take a deep breath and Mumsy will explain to her what will happen."

Bella automatically breathed deep and did as Mumsy requested. The elf beamed joyfully at her as she spoke, "Mistress is so much better! And Mistress' babies are alive and healthy too. It was a good thing that Master Harry took you to that hospital when he did."

Bella's eyes narrowed. "Mumsy." She hissed just slightly at the old elf.

The elf could not help but bounce over to her and hug her leg as it draped over the edge of the seat. "It is so good to have Mistress Bella back! Now I's being explaining." The elf wiggled a bit with happiness before speaking.

"Magic does not like wizards to go into the future. Magic does not really like any souls to go into the future, but it will permit a few species. The one true time traveler is the miniature dragon, two of which you have here now."

Everyone nodded. They understood that part.

"Magic has already started blurring the reality of the last two months for everyone who stayed in this time while you three will be undergoing what feels like life in," Here she stopped to chose the correct word, "Something like warp speed? Is that the right word, Master Harry?"

Harry considered her explanation for a few seconds. "Yes, that makes sense, Mumsy. What you are saying is that magic will take some of the memories people have created and blur them until they are surreal while time will speed up for us until we catch up to the correct time."

"Precisely!" Both Hat and Mumsy were pleased that the normally dim witted humans they usually had to deal with understood a concept without having to resort to violence.

And then Mumsy said, "We's be needing to get Mistress Bellatrix to the hospital soon so that she can rest and be taking things easy during the time adjustment. The Goblin King is be wanting to know that you are all back safe also." She bustled around the room tidying up little things and talking to herself as she waited for the wizards to tell her what they required help with next.

Salazar watched the elf for a few seconds before realizing she was waiting to be dismissed. "Mumsy?" He asked.

"Master Slither needs Mumsy's help?"

"Yes, Mumsy. I do need your help. These are my old quarters from when I lived here at the school back then. I do not have a guest room for Mistress Bellatrix, but I am loathe to let her leave my wards until King Jareth and his allies are able to assure her safety. Could you provide her with a small sleeping chamber and a bath for the night?"

The elf was nearly incandescent with joy as she snapped her fingers and touched a spot along a bare wall. Within seconds she was escorting Mistress Bellatrix into her private rooms.

A few minutes later Bella popped her head back through the door. "Thanks so much, Slither! Mumsy is running me a bath right now and I shall soon avail myself of the feather bed she provided. I will see all of you gentlemen at a more appropriate hour. I now bid you all good day."

Harry and Salazar were just sliding into bed, Salazar reaching for his hand when Harry saw Salazar's whole image flicker and blink out of existence for a second. Then before he could even open his mouth to scream, Salazar was back and tugging gently at Harry's hand to pull him into his embrace. A second later the blond was shocked to have Harry plastered to him, sobbing and hissing in Parceltonge in his anxiety.

"Harry, what is wrong with you?" He finally got his arms up so he could push Harry slightly away from his body. He immediately moved one hand from Harry's shoulder to brush hair away from his face before connecting their lips and kissing the younger man senseless. It took quite a few minutes before Harry stopped shaking and clutching at Salazar.

He finally managed to speak. "I was reaching for you and you blinked out of existence."

"I thought I felt faint for a second there. How about we ask Peridot or Mumsy if they know what happened in the morning?"

"What if…?" His voice choked off and he could not get anymore words out.

Salazar knew there would be no rest for him until Harry was satisfied that he would not disappear again. "Mumsy?" He called softly.

The elf popped back into the room and stood on the edge of the bed. "Why does Master Slyther be calling for Mumsy when he needs to be sleeping?"

"I had an incident a few minutes ago, Mumsy, and Harry is concerned that I might wink out of existence again. Could you perhaps explain what happened to me so that we can be at peace?"

Mumsy smiled happily. "Yes, Mumsy can be explaining what happened to Master Slyther. Master Slyther is part wizard and part Veela. The wizard part that makes up Master Slyther encountered the time problem."

Harry turned startled green eyes to the little elf. "Has the problem been fixed, Mumsy?"

She nodded energetically. "OH, yes! Magic has decided that Master Slyther's soul was correct to come to this time because it is always better to have a complete soul in one time period rather than two halves of a soul caught in different eras."

Harry grabbed the elf and hugged and kissed her before letting her go, only to repeat the process with his spouse, only on a more thorough and personal scale. The last thing Mumsy heard from the boys was Salazar cooing, "I told you that I would not leave you. Now calm down or use that energy you are wasting a little more productively."

She popped away while considering what she could do to help the boys. She would have a talk with her son, Dobby, and then go from there. It was obvious that Master Harry and Master Slyther were magically strong and their bonding had been complete. It would be necessary for them to perform the soul-sharing search spell on a regular basis. Oh, but it was marvelous that the old ways were going to be revived. Best of all, with the revival of the old teachings, most of the Pure Blood crap would fall away.


	18. The Girl all the Bad Guys Want

Chapter 18: The Girl all the Bad Guys Want

Harry and Salazar were shocked awake the next morning to find an excited house elf bouncing on the end of their bed. Harry sat up slightly and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Dobby, what the hell are you doing?" He snapped.

Dobby bounced one more time then did a back flip before vaulting onto the floor. "Mumsy tells Dobby to go wake up Master Harry and Master Slyther, only Dobby remembers that Master Harry does not like noise or being touched. So Dobby wakes Master Harry up by jumping on his bed.

"Thank you, Dobby. You did an excellent job as usual." Salazar couldn't figure out whether Harry was being kind or facetious as the black haired male complimented the demented elf. He sat up to get a good look at the crazy creature after noticing the electric blue and neon green striped jumper it was wearing.

Dobby squeaked at the sight of blond hair and ducked behind the wardrobe door before realizing Harry was not in bed with a Malfoy. After peeking out to make sure he was safe, he squealed happily before adding, "Master Harry has picked a mate! Is Master Harry's mate as kind and good as Master Harry?"

Salazar grinned at the elf. "I should think so! After all, I did marry him."

Harry knew how this could go so he decided to interrupt them before he had to shut down a mutual admiration society just to get the program back on track. "How much time do we have before we need to go up to the Great Hall for breakfast, Dobby? We do have time to eat before we get on the Hogwarts Express and go home, don't we?"

Dobby calmed down to the point where anyone who did not know him would think he was a normal elf. "Mumsy sends Dobby to explain that because of all the problems the Headmaster had with you disappearing for two months, you will only have a week at Durzkaban before you need to return to school for your sixth year. Only King Jareth has arranged it so that you will not go there at all. He will be going to number 4, Privet Drive instead." The elf took a breath then began again.

"You are to floo to 12 Grimmauld Place after breakfast. Dogfather will escort yous though Diagon Alley to pick up yous supplies for next year. Yous will then go to King's Cross station at five in the afternoon where King Jareth will meet with yous before the Dursleys arrive to collect you."

While Harry was cackling madly about Durzkaban, Salazar grinned. "Wow! Maybe we ought to write that agenda down."

Dobby snapped his fingers and held out a piece of parchment to him. Obviously the elf did not let sarcasm get in the way of doing a thorough job.

Jareth and Sarah showed up at Kings Cross Station and told Harry and Salazar they had the week in London to do whatever they wanted to. Jareth planned to deal with the Dursley family immediately and wanted Harry out of the way. According to Goblin law he could not enter a human habitation without being invited first and he intended to assume Harry's shape in order to gain that entrance. Since Goblin Law did not say you could not trick a human into letting you into their abode, Jared felt the easiest way to gain entrance was to let Vernon believe he was Harry and order him into the house the minute they returned home from London.

The boys did not need to be told twice to vanish. Harry did have the presence of mind to ask, "Grandma, may I have your credit card?" Harry wanted to go out into muggle London and take in as many sights and activities as they could pack into one week. They also planned to visit their vaults, but only after they managed all the fun stuff.

Sarah laughed and told him to stop in Gringotts and get some money out of his trust vault. Then she added, "Or, if you really want to do something fascinating, go visit the vault given to you and Salazar as your dowry. It was sealed back in 996 and still has all the books, jewelry, weapons, and artwork that had originally been placed in it."

Jareth listened to Sarah babble for a bit before adding, "I did take all the money out of the vault though. I used the money to buy and pay for the refurbishment of the old Turlington Manor since I knew you would need a place to live when not at Hogwarts."

Salazar smiled at Harry before thanking Jareth profusely. "It was very kind of you to acquire my mother's ancestral home for us, Sir. Has the village been rebuilt also?"

"Yes," Jareth answered. Then he made a shooing motion at them and bade them be quick of departure so he and Sarah could change into Harry and Hedwig before the Dursleys arrived.

They did not have long to wait before the Dursley family made their way across the waiting area between platforms 8 and 9.

Uncle Vernon forwent the usual salutations exchanged between family members and snarled, "Where the ruddy hell have you been for the last two months, you stupid freak?"

Before 'Harry' could answer, Petunia chimed in. "I don't understand why you could not have remained away one more week! We could have had a perfectly lovely normal summer without your freakishness."

Jareth stood up and grabbed his trolley to follow after his lovely family. He really was praying that they would go straight home and start in on him so that he could finish them off and get back to the Underground. Ludo and Sir Ditimus had nothing on these muggles- talk about a pack of freaks! What he wouldn't do for the chance to tip all three of them into the Bog of Eternal Stench!

The ride in Vernon's new BMW was supposed to be exciting because of the scent of new leather and old money. The real reason it was exciting was because Sarah became annoyed with the Dursley scion shifting every few minutes and sucker punching Jareth in the ribs. She decided after the fifth punch to retaliate. Dudley seemed to have an aversion to owl feces on his face if the ensuing racket was any indication.

By the time the family arrived home Vernon was ready to beat Harry even if the neighbors were staring. He did not seem to appreciate the fact that Dudley was at fault for starting the commotion while Jareth was in no mood to let Dudley hurt his owl for crapping on him. Between Petunia's wailing that Dudley could contract some horrid disease from that nasty bird, and Dudley's sniveling that the bird was a hazard and needed to be put down; well, the neighbors did get the whole story. Especially since Jareth yanked up his shirt and shrieked loud enough for them all to hear, "See, I told you the miserable sot was hitting me. But, no, did you listen? NO. Just because you Pillsbury dough boys can go around poking each other without sustaining damage does not mean the rest of us won't get hurt!"

The obviously jeering laughter from the neighbors finished it for the Dursleys. Vernon lost his florid complexion, he was so angry that words failed him. He simply pointed to the house and hissed, "NOW! Get in."

Jareth turned and waved jauntily to the neighbors before strutting up to the open door with his trunk dragging behind him. None of the watching neighbors saw the smirk gracing his face as he shifted into Goblin King mode. He conjured a ball of chaos magic and rolled it into the living room where the Dursleys had congregated to wait on 'the boy'. He gave it time to come to a stop and activate before stopping at the bottom of the stairs and observing them.

As the magic diffused throughout the room, they seemed to forget about him while attempting to clean and console their child. Jareth turned and made his way upstairs to the room he knew Harry used while in residence. He went straight to work getting everything ready since he did not know precisely how much time he had before Vernon would stumble up the steps and attempt to beat the 'freakishness' out of him.

The chaos magic had confused and numbed their senses; however, it did have its limits and eventually wore off. After regaining his mental clarity Vernon was back on the war path. He had no intention of letting Harry Potter escape his anger with anything less than a pound of flesh and at least half a gallon of blood.

Petunia was also determined that Harry would pay for the slight to her darling son. The audacity of the boy to let his nasty bird relieve itself on her Dudders! She narrowed her eyes as she glanced up the stairs to where he was before walking across the dining room to the china cabinet where the liquor was stored.

She did her bit of manipulation handing him the first brandy and whining about 'the boy' as he drank it. One drink turned into two then five as Vernon drank himself into the mood to deal with the boy appropriately. It just figured that the boy would refuse to cooperate.

Vernon was not normally an ugly drunk. He was more of an emotionally suggestive drunk. Tonight, because Petunia was distraught over the owl incident, he was feeling mean; being a bad-ass to his family was out of the question so taking his frustrations out on the boy would have to do.

When Vernon had slammed the boy's bedroom door open he had expected him to shoot out of bed like a scalded cat. Instead, he had swiveled a deluxe mahogany office chair around and arched one perfect brow in silent inquiry. Then Vernon took another look at the room and suddenly his drink fueled anger was no longer bolstering his courage.

All the little details his job demanded he assimilate hit Vernon at once. The chair was not the only change. The room itself had been magically expanded and everything had been upgraded. An oak floor, sanded and stained medium brown peeped out about a foot from what an Aubusson carpet of an intricate design involving birds of paradise and swirling branches patterned from the Linden tree. Then after blinking twice to dispel the image of the four poster bed draped in silver crushed silk with a coverlet that predominantly incorporated the colors of silver, green, and black he gave up and simply asked, "What have you done to this room?"

Jareth had reverted to his true form so expected the huge man's jaws to quiver in visible outrage as he glared malevolently at what he had inadvertently let into his house. That simple question did not have him lowering his guard any, but it did give him pause to wonder how much of the mistreatment Harry received at the hands of these monsters was natural and how much was deliberately instigated by an outside force because Vernon did not appear to see Jareth; he was acting like Harry was in the room.

He smiled sweetly at the human and answered. "I redecorated because it was dirty and tacky. But, mostly tacky. I don't like broken furniture and worn out linens. Do you like what I have done with the place? I think it is much more refined and elegant that what your previous decorator went for. If I recall correctly, the grunge look went out around the same time putting reeds down to keep the floor warm in winter fell out of fashion."

Vernon shook his head a few times, obviously trying to clear it before asking the next question, "What are you and where the hell is that mangy boy?"

Jareth laughed at that. He stood and produced one of his crystals to play with while speaking to Vernon. "I am Jareth, King of the Goblins, and I came to find out why you, your lovely wife, and child are such horrible excuses for humans. As he spoke the hypnotic motion of the crystal danced along his long fingers and trailed around his arms. It would have taken a wizard with full occulomency shields to ignore Jareth's little magic trick.

Vernon was mesmerized by the crystal. He was not a weak willed man; he would grant that he was not brilliant, but he was a steady, hardworking man. He saw himself as average in everything except his beautiful wife. Vernon was in awe of the woman he was married to; she was the epitome of perfection in his eyes and he would do what ever it took to please her. He found himself explaining all of that to the man in front of him; he was sure that it was all obvious, but he would humor him with an explanation.

Jareth found a few things wrong with that explanation and cast a few goblin spells at Vernon to check for spells that might be affecting him. The results, Jareth observed, left him wondering if he should die of laughter or go on a homicidal rampage.

The King did not have the heart to break the spells on Vernon that had him seeing a cross between Cybil Sheppard and Kate Moss when he looked at Petunia. The child abuse spells had to go though; especially when he recognized the fact that Dudley was a magical child being abused also. Most of it would be fixable…

Hearing the whispered suggestion, Vernon dutifully followed the crystal when Jareth dropped it and let it roll out the door and down the hall to the master bedroom. When Vernon sat down on the edge of the bed and clutched the crystal in his hands nothing else registered as he watched the two figures dancing. His mind entered the crystal and he collapsed back on the bed to dream of things he recalled wanting before the dark side of magic entered his life.

Jareth went across the hall and collected the sleeping whale before storming down the steps to confront the foul drunken creature that called herself Petunia Dursley.

He was none too gentle while grabbing her before apparating back to Gringotts. He was so angry at Petunia that he neglected to tell Sarah where he was going.

Sarah, in owl form, sat on the partially open door of the clothes closet. She was totally bemused by the actions of her husband. They had only been married some forty-five years or so, so she was not completely sure what it was he learned that set him off. The first spell he used was obviously a diagnostic, but whatever it said was beyond her limited spell capacity.

She waited a few minutes before realizing that he had forgotten she was there with him. It did not take long after to see the beautiful owl known as Hedwig shimmer in the dim light then transform into a small barn owl that soon hopped to the window ledge and began winging its way back to London.

Flying to London served two purposes. First, it allowed Sarah to enjoy a quiet evening by herself as she ordered her thoughts regarding the goings-on in the Wizarding world over the last sixty-some years. Second, it gave Jareth time to get his anger under control without having to show restraint since his queen was not there to reprimand him. At least that was her plan and she truly hoped he would have calmed down by the time she arrived back at Gringotts.

No such luck was forthcoming though. The bank was in an uproar when she arrived and no amount of calmness on her part was ensuring an answer. She finally reverted to standing in the middle of the room and screaming, "What the hell is going on here?"

Abruptly the place quieted. Then an old goblin shrieked and threw himself at her feet before bellowing, "My Queen! How shall Gringotts be of service to you?" Everyone else completely stopped what they were doing and stared at Sarah in awed silence.

That pissed her off even worse. Drawing back her foot, she kicked the goblin half way across the lobby and watched as he tumbled the rest of the way before coming to rest against the wall. Grinning like a maniac, the goblin bounced to his feet and said, "I will just be taking the Queen to where the King is, yes?"

Sarah glared at the gawking crowd before snarling, "Get up off your dead arses and get back to work."

Shocked and appalled wizards and witches all around the room drew themselves up and began to mutter, "Well! I never!"

Her parting words before disappearing into the lower sections of the bank was, "Get back to your business, or get out of the bank. This is not a convention center." She might have laughed had she stayed and watched the reactions from some of the magical folks. The question, 'what is a convention center?' was spouted by several purebloods.

Hogul, well used the eccentricities of the royals, just grinned and waddled down the hall to where the king was. He was, after all, the court jester.

Jareth took both Dudley and Petunia straight to a goblin healer. There was no way he was going to entrust either of them to the fine folks at St. Mungo's. Especially since he did not know who all was in Dumbledore's pocket and who was in his own since most of the staff seemed to be available to the highest bidder. Jareth had been meddling in St. Mungo's business for the last five years to the point that he could have most of them convicted of malpractice and sent off to Azkaban at one time or another.

By the time Sarah reached the infirmary Jareth had tracked down Harry and Salazar and enlisted their help to power up some of the medicinal crystals routinely used in the hospital to provide power boosts to the healers. She knew better than to interfere and simply stood back and watched in awe as three of the most magically adept 'creatures' on the planet channeled pure magical energy into a 200kt canary yellow diamond until it glowed like a solar flare.

Standard procedure for a power boost would be for a goblin healer to place a small diamond, usually between 10 and 30 kt worked best, in a specially crafted headpiece so the power could be absorbed as was needed. Powering the canary diamond and then placing it on the floor under the healers' work table allowed the Healers involved in the ritual to stand in designated spots and absorb power from the stone through their bare feet as they worked. It provided a steady power source without having to stop and change stones while performing exhausting feats of magic.

A minute later the five practically floated around the bed where Dudley Dursley rested in a coma. Their first order of business was to unblock his magical talents. They would then unblock his magical core. It was their experience that the core surge, once unblocked, often fully activated any and all hidden talents if a pathway could be utilized. To unlock the core and then the talents often led to the talents not activating because the core surge had already been wasted.

Dudley was scheduled to remain in a magically induced coma until the goblin healers could get his biorhythms back in sync. The final step of his treatment would begin after them woke him up. He would be released from the medical facility only after he began the arduous task of gaining control of his magic.

All five healers were shaking with exhaustion by the time Dudley was ready to move to observation. According to their chief healer, the boy had been only months away from dying had he been left in the muggle house without any intervention. His recovery would be determined mostly by his own constitution once he was given the facts and control of his own destiny.

Petunia Evans Dursley was going to be a completely different kettle of fish. The healers found very little spell damage regarding her. There was not much to fix; the partial transfiguration hex that gave her the horse-like appearance was removed, the 'anorexia' curse was cancelled, and the badly applied glamour charms were negated. What was left was a starved looking, plain, ready to enter middle-aged woman. The sad part was that most of those spells had her signature on them.

Jareth went to Sarah's side and apologized for leaving her there at the Dursley residence when he left. A kiss or two, a bit of hand holding, and they were back in order with each other.

Both felt strangely compelled to stay and watch as the healers did what they could for the humans. It was a lot like watching a train wreck; fascinating yet horrible. They both felt righteous anger in the case of Dudley, but it was going to take a great deal of effort to understand and accept Petunia.

Salazar Slytherin was the answer to the conundrum known as Petunia. He pointed to a beautiful ring with a diamond shaped as a five pointed star she was wearing and asked, "At what point in the spell reversals did that ring become visible?"

Harry looked at her hand and shrugged. "She has had that ring as long as I can remember. She said something once about it being a gift to her from Dudley's father. It has just always been there."

Jareth looked at Harry funny. "Isn't Vernon Dudley's father?"

Harry shrugged. "The genetic resemblance is there. We are talking about the Wizarding world though and everyone knows that nothing is as it seems here."

Salazar seemed to be having an apoplectic fit as he stared at the ring. "I have no idea what has happened in the last thousand years, but I do know she should have never have been given that ring."

Jareth looked from Salazar to the ring then back to Salazar. "Tell us what you know. Obviously, there is something wrong. Is it a cursed object?"

Salazar shook his head sadly while seemingly unable to pull his gaze away from the sight of the ring. "If I am correct that stone is one I saw my mother wear almost every day when I was a child. The ring was made by a Veela Queen who was a personal friend of Ecgfrida of Chester Contes Northumbria. The Queen gave mother the ring so she could hide her beauty from others while anyone knowing the secret of the ring could see through the glamour."

Jareth blinked a few times but did not say anything. Sarah and Harry were left to ask the questions. Sarah broke down first.

"Explain. And make it simple enough for Harry and me."

Salazar finally turned to Harry and pulled him into his embrace. Harry could feel the shivers coursing through his husband's body. "Don't speak. Give me the memory and I shall explain it to Grandmother."

The ring was not intended as a cursed object. It had been made for a Veela with Veela magic. Veela magic did not react well with a human unless they had some creature heritage (read as usually Veela). A Veela could wear the ring, meaning they could put it on and take it off whenever they chose to. A human with no Veela genetics would be unable to put the ring on or remove it. However, if a Veela put the ring on a human and left it there the spell work on the ring would activate and the human's life force would power it until the human died.

Harry stood there stunned. On a subconscious level Aunt Petunia must have recognized that fact. That must have been why she was so clingy of Dudley. The love of family was a Veela's source of strength and comfort. All those times she kissed and cuddled him had been contact with a magic that soothed the ring which in turn provided her some measure of relief.

"Sal, care to hazard a guess?" Harry asked.

He huffed and shook his head. "It might have been a random curse on the stone that if a human wore the ring they would become their own worst nightmare while the people around them would not be able to see their true appearance and therefore would be unable to help them."

Several minutes later Queen Sarah was visibly shaking as she reached out to the pathetic woman and took hold of her hand. "Petunia Evans, I swear on my honor as Queen of the Underground that I, Sarah Williams, wife of Jareth, King of the Goblins, I will do my best to avenge you for this evil that was done to you." After she finished speaking she just stood there holding Petunia's limp hand.

They were all surprised a few minutes later when Petunia managed to open her eyes and look around. She finally focused on Sarah and spoke in a harsh whisper, "You don't have to look far for who did whatever has been done to me." She broke down in harsh wracking sobs as she choked out, "I feel so stupid. Lily even told me to never trust a gift from the Wizarding world because most things were not what they seemed."

Salazar had managed to regain his dignity by then. "Would you like for me to remove the ring from your finger for you?"

Petunia nodded weakly.

Salazar bent close but refused to touch the ring. "I must hear you state the intention out loud that you want the ring removed. It is a Veela artifact and will not be removed except by the free will of the bearer."

Pain filled blue eyes looked up at him. "Take the ring off of me. I need to know what he did to me!"

Salazar took the ring and held it firmly between two fingers without touching the diamond. It really was a beautiful ring; a star sapphire cut in the shape of a star was a priceless article.

He finally asked, "Who put this ring on your finger? Whoever it was broke Veela law by enslaving a human to Veela whims."

Petunia closed her eyes as large tear drops rolled down her shrunken cheeks. She really did look a concentration camp refugee; one who might not have been saved in time.

Petunia sobbed, "He was gorgeous! He was tall and thin with lovely platinum hair and marvelous steel grey eyes." She smiled, opening her eyes back up when Sarah conjured a Kleenex and wiped the tears away. "I can still remember every detail as if it were just a few minutes ago."

Harry stepped forward, his dragon mind magic making him a perfect choice to do the legitimacy. "Will you show me the memory, Aunt Petunia? If I do not recognize the man, then maybe Grandfather will."

Petunia giggled, "I am not sure I want to share such a memory. There was quite a bit involved."

"Maybe you could just focus on his face and I will try not to stay and watch anything else, yes?"

Petunia could not help the feeling that flooded her at the memory of the man who had placed the ring on her finger. "Oh, poo! Let me show you the whole thing so there will not be any misunderstandings later. All these years, all I had to sustain me was his memory and it is so beautiful." Her voice dropped to nearly a whisper as she conceded, "it was like living a chapter from a Mills and Boone Romance novel. Only the novel doesn't hurt when it is over."

Harry smiled at Petunia and squeezed her shoulder gently. "Very good! But, let me make one little change to the plan and then we will all let you sleep and get better."

"What change?" Jareth was glaring at his grandson.

As Harry stared at the grouchy goblin, Salazar turned and asked the healers who were still there resting and recuperating. "Would it be possible for us to use the Healer's Pensive?"

The oldest of the goblins got up and went across the floor to a recessed wall. He punched in what appeared to be a code then the rock wall slid away. He waved one finger at the stone bowl and levitated it over to where Jareth had stopped frowning and was now congratulating Harry on a job well done.

Five minutes later the royals and the healers were inside the pensive viewing the memory of Lucius Malfoy meeting with Petunia Evans. Several facts were obvious. This was not the first meeting between the two. It was also obvious from the way Lucius' eyes were unfocused that he had been _imperioed_. Everyone watched in horror though when he told her that this was the last time they could be together. His father had found out about her being a minor talent muggleborn instead of a pureblood princess of impeccable lineage and had taken steps to rectify the situation.

Lucius had broken down in tears as he explained that his father demanded Lucius give Petunia a ring to remember him by. Between kisses and caresses they managed to undress each other. Lucius and Petunia had seemed to genuinely care for each other.

It had not been a good experience for any of the observers to watch Lucius and Petunia make love and then walk away from each other. There had been genuine pain at their separation.

Salazar waited for Harry to speak before clarifying the other odd bits watching the memory had brought up. "As Harry pointed out, Malfoy cannot be held responsible for any actions he performed at that time because it was clear he was under the _Imperious_."

He waited for the folks to comment then went back to his take on the situation. "Under Veela law he cannot be held liable for any damage because he did the one thing he could to protect Petunia. Before they had sex he cast fertility charms on both her and himself. If Dudley is their child that will explain why the ring did not kill her as the person who forced him to put it on her hand fully intended."

Sarah gasped and gave Salazar a horrified look. "The ring was intended to kill her?"

"Yes. The ring would have killed her if she had not had a drop of Veela blood in her body or some type of regular contact with one. Lucius attempted to ensure the ring would not kill her by giving her a child." He looked over at Dudley who even from that distance really did look like Vernon. "At least I think that is what happened. "

Jareth gritted his pointy teeth and glared at his wife. "I am tired. Let us retire to our home and rest."

Sarah was amendable to that suggestion. "Yes, Dearest. Before we go, though, do you want to post some guards around our guests here? I trust our healers," here she stopped and smiled at the healers who were still in attendance to their king, "but Dumbledore might have a few others in his employ."

He raised the hand he was holding to his lips and nipped gently with his pointy teeth. "I hear your concern and heed your wisdom." He asked the healers to make a note for Research to get a drawing of the ring and see who had owned it since it had passed out of Lady Slytherin's control. The whole evil plot just stank of Dumbledore; even if it was not his plot he was still being blamed because he was the bad guy of the month…

On their way out of the bank he stopped and had a chat with his chief of security. It might not be impossible to get past the goblin security team that was sent to attend the infirmary, but it was going to cost anyone who tried it dearly. The goblin network had already let it be known to the whole goblin nation exactly what had transpired in the medical facility regarding the Evans heiress and her son. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore had just had another sin laid at his feet. Except by most reckonings those sins were probably piled up thigh high by now.


	19. Ride the Trains

Chapter 19: Ride the Trains

Salazar and Harry decided to step out and grab a bite to eat before heading back down into the vault maze. They both shook their heads at each other and grinned in frustration regarding the fact that they had not made it past the first pile of trinkets and doodads piled at the front of the vault before their goblin escort had came dashing up to them, begging their pardon for interrupting them, and had said the King required their presence upstairs in the bank hospital. Never mind, they had the rest of the week. Ah well, at least they were making progress…

They slipped out the door of the Leaky Cauldron and made their way to the Charring Cross tube station. From there they made their way into Muggle London. Harry knew of several eateries that stayed open all night that served great take away as well as sit down meals.

When Salazar asked how he knew all this he replied, "Several of us have been sneaking out of Hogwarts on a regular basis to improve our understanding of the muggle world. Hermione and I escort groups of students around London and a few other places so they can learn muggle culture and how to blend in."

Salazar nodded. "That makes perfect sense. After seeing your memories of life before Hogwarts I want to know more also."

Harry giggled and agreed. "I think you will look awesome in Levi jeans and a bomber jacket."

The blond only hummed a sort of agreement. Their mind link left both boys feeling rather like a pair of jeans was overdressed…

Eventually, since they could not decide what they really wanted to eat, they wound up with a bucket of KFC, two portions of fish and chips, some McDonalds Quarter pounders, a box of cheesy bread strips, several pint servings of different B&R ice creams, and four bottles of wine (one to go with each meal).

They wandered up and down the streets as they ate their fish and chips first while drinking the disillusioned bottle of zinfandel. Salazar was in awe of muggle London. It was not wide awake, but even at 2:00am there were places to go and things to see. Neither one of them wanted to admit that it might have been the wine talking as they found one absolutely wonderful spot after another to share a kiss and cuddle.

Mindful of the late hour, Harry summoned the knight bus and told Stan they needed to get back to the Leaky Cauldron before day break. Stan, having previous experience of a dragon on the bus, told Ernie to make haste to the Cauldron and sod every hag on the bus who thought to complain.

Salazar smelled a good story there and could barely contain his excitement to learn the facts before they got back to the bank. Harry vehemently denied there was anything to the story. Stan winked as he pointed out burn marks and gouges in the sides of the bus. As they stepped down to leave Stan slipped Salazar a note. _Ask Ron Weasley or Draco Malfoy what happened._

They went through the Leaky with plenty of seconds to spare. They even made it through Diagon Alley and into the lobby without incident. That is where it ended though, just as Minerva McGonagall was turning around to leave the teller station Salazar recognized the old witch who cursed Harry to be a dragon.

Male Veelas are not really supposed to be able to transform and throw fire balls; Salazar was angry enough to override all the genetic programming and went for her. Minerva gave one startled yowl and changed into her animagus form.

The goblins thought it was funny to see a great winged beastie throwing fire balls at a cute little house cat. Whoever said they have no sense of humor has never seen how fast a goblin can place a bet on a game of chance. Grimfang won the betting pool because he had the greater knowledge. He said Harry would stop the big beastie before it roasted the pussy. He would transform into a dragon and win by wrestling him down and sitting on him until he changed back into Veela form. It was an easy hundred galleons he picked up that morning.

The goblins also had fun firecalling the headmaster and requesting that he come collect the tabby cat that refused to come out from under a small stone teller bench that she had taken shelter under. Seeing the old man dressed in his garish sleepwear was one of the things they did to torture the new tellers. All things considered, it had been a rather pleasant early morning for the goblins.

The boys were escorted to the royal suite so they could have a nice nap before going back down to the vault assigned to them back in 996. Harry snorted excitedly as he saw the renovations Sarah had ordered just so he could bathe and sleep in luxury. The bath had been expanded from a regular tub into a small swimming pool. The bed had previously been a British double, but was now a California King.

Salazar watched the dragon carefully slide into the warm water to avoid making any waves then lay his head on the ledge with a content sigh. He couldn't resist going over and sitting down beside him to rub the eye ridges and gently tug on the whiskers that seemed to serve the same purpose as those on a cat. They had a peaceful bonding moment before finishing their baths. Sleep was just as comfortable. The dragon would lie down and pull Salazar into its clutches. The wings would sweep over the sleeping Veela and keep him safe until they woke.

They got up around noon and after heating up the cheesy breads, ate quickly then headed down into the tunnels to work through their vault. They knew that with the way Dumbledore and Fudge worked they would have to announce to the world that they were not gone as everyone presumed and it was they who asked the goblins to check the vault before entering it themselves. The best way to make a grand entrance would be to announce that they had just got back from their honeymoon and were now in the process of inventorying their vaults. They worked until almost sunset before coming back to the surface for a quick meal and to contact the press.

Salazar was loathe to give up time with Harry while in his human form, but they both reckoned that it would be better to let a member of the journalistic community in to see the vault while they could get pictures of them as a couple. Harry opted for Luna to join them along with Colin Creevey who they wanted to document the whole vault as they inventoried it.

It took several hours to remove the books from the vault. They could have packed them with magic in seconds, but the purpose of the exercise was to get the names of the books out to the public so that it would generate excitement regarding the possibilities of regaining lost knowledge. After all, what is the use of saying, "we found old books."?

Harry's legal team requested they be allowed access to the books first. Mr. Smythe- Greeley, his patents and copyright specialist, was of the opinion that the books were not only all out of print, but they had never been patented. He assured them that the firm could make the Potter Estate quite a bundle of money from reprinting the books and papers.

Then they were standing on platform 9 and ¾ waiting to return to school. The week went by so quickly that Harry swore they jumped straight from Saturday to Friday. Salazar assured him that the days did in fact happen and tried to remind him of said days by way of whispering little things that had been done and said. He decided to keep quiet after the dragon wailed in anguish and waddled away to drape his head over Hermione's shoulder after she entered the melee waiting to load up.

Salazar stopped and glanced at the dragon and the girl several times before shaking his head then repeating the process. Eventually he could not stand it any longer and had to approach her. The dragon was still crying, but gave him a lazy wink as he stepped up to face her. "Excuse me, miss, but you seem to have attracted my dragon's attention. I apologize for him bothering you. I will just take him away now, if you don't mind."

Hermione had not been told about Salazar. Mainly because Harry assumed she read the papers. She had no idea who he was and was ever so shocked to first hear him speak almost rudely and then to outright stare at her…chest.

Her first reaction was to slap the strange blond who bore a strong resemblance to Malfoy for being so bold. Then she looked down at why he was staring and became infuriated for a totally different reason. "Harry Potter, you little, fat-arsed jerk, get back here so I can hex you to hell and back without hurting anyone else!" While she had been concerned about her upset friend, said friend had soaked the front of her muslin shirt which was now transparent and clinging lovingly to her modest, but adequate bosom.

She stopped screaming and was about to take off after the now laughing dragon, but was stopped before she whirled around to give chase. "Please do not chase him until you have cast a drying charm on that shirt." Salazar's voice penetrated her red haze at the last second. She stopped and stamped her foot in embarrassment.

"OK. All better now." Salazar had waved his hand and she was clean and dry again.

Her eyes flew open wide and took on a predatory gleam. "That was wandless magic."

He grinned. "No. That was wandless, wordless magic. There is a difference."

Her honey gold eyes gleamed with lust as she murmured, "I did not catch your name earlier. I am Hermione Granger; I am one of the 6th year Gryffindor Prefects."

"It was very nice to see you, Hermione Granger." He grinned.

Hermione's face pinked slightly.

Then he continued, "Excuse me, what I meant to say that it was nice to meet you, Hermione Granger. Would you care to walk with me until we find our errant friend? Maybe we can get him to explain why he treats his friend so badly then ignores his husband."

Hermione heard what he said, however, the words did not compute. It did not sound right that he would have a husband, especially a blond husband that looked and acted quite a bit like a Malfoy. Then her famous intelligence kicked in and Hermione almost drooled on his arm as she imagined these two beautiful men together…with her!

They eventually found Harry lounging in the compartment just behind the prefect car. It was a good place to hide because the trip to Hogwarts was half completed before Hermione and Salazar stopped checking and rechecking the back of the train. It had also afforded the two of them time to do some bonding without Harry being there. He was a good reason for them to bond though!

Hermione did not realize how close she was sitting to Salazar when they finally made their way into his car and sat down across from him. Harry and Salazar both noticed though. The dragon could not help chittering slightly in inquiry to the blond.

Hermione gasped in surprise when she saw the blond smile brightly at the dragon before picking up her hand and squeezing it lightly. "What did Harry just say to you?" She could not help but blurt the question out.

Salazar pulled out his wand and cast a few weak privacy spells before turning toward her. "As you know, I introduced myself earlier as Sal. My name is Salazar Sterling Slytherin. Harry travelled back in time to Hogwarts and spent just over two months in the year 996. While he was there we discovered we are soul mates. We bonded before Harry was told to come home so when he moved forward to the future I came with him."

Harry Dragon chattered at Salazar and watched him shrug.

Hermione looked at Salazar. "What did Harry say?"

Salazar grinned charmingly at her. "He asked why I never use my second middle name. Since most people only have three names I rarely ever use the other."

She looked down at her hand which was being held gently, but firmly, in his. He did not seem to notice he was holding her until she tried to pull back from him. "Salazar, you might want to let go of me since your husband is watching us." She finally managed to say.

Harry Dragon giggled and Salazar shook his head at him. "You are totally incorrigible!" He finally spoke English to him.

Hermione blinked, "He's incorrigible?" She finally questioned.

"Yep." Salazar was adamant. "You would not believe some of the things he gets up to and then leaves it for me to explain so others won't try to kill him."

Hermione glared at the laughing dragon. "Actually I would believe the things he gets up to. But, usually it involves trying to kill himself while dragging his friends along."

Salazar saw the hurt look flash in Harry's eyes at Hermione's choice of words and decided to change the subject. "You misunderstand. Harry merely recognized your importance to our relationship and decided to let us know as soon as possible." Then he turned to Harry and asked, "You did intend for me to realize Hermione is the one, yes?"

Harry nodded his head affirmatively. It was obvious he would like to say more, however, he refrained and let Salazar take the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go.

Hermione, realizing she had hurt Harry, stayed quiet while observing them attentively. It did not take long for Harry to nod at Salazar. It was a clear indication for him to begin.

Salazar had a light pink tinge to his face as he began his story. Somehow, both of his hands had tangled with both of hers. They were sitting side by side and turned slightly so they were facing each other at a slight angle. Realizing there was only so much fidgeting one could do, he opened his mouth and blurted out, "First of all, you need to understand that under different circumstances Harry and I would be totally homosexual."

Instead of her pulling away at his declaration, he felt a gentle squeeze on both hands. Centering on that, he breathed deeply and continued. "Had we been non-magical entities we would probably have spent our whole lives together and never expressed interest in another, regardless of their gender."

Her soft voice cut through his stumbling explanation. "However, you are magical and for some reason you need to at least talk to me."

Salazar couldn't do it. He did not know this female- this woman- whatever she was, well enough to bare his soul to her. Either Harry had to do the talking, or it was not going to get done. A soft fluttering and Salazar found himself wrapped in dragon wings with the unhappy creature crooning gently to calm him down. Harry had leaned across and scooped him off the seat beside Hermione.

Hermione had been friends with Harry for five years now through thick and thin. She understood him rather well even in dragon form. Therefore it did not upset her unduly to say, "Harry, let's put this discussion off until this evening when you are once again Harry-human and can speak more easily to me."

He nodded his head and went back to chirping and cooing. Hermione sat there totally enthralled with the gentleness Harry was displaying with his obviously overset mate. She almost giggled in delight when Harry visibly calmed and relaxed enough for her to catch a glimpse of the blond cuddled into the dragon's bulk with a peaceful look on his sleeping face.

That was how the rest of the gang found them later when the enchantments on the door lowered enough for Neville to bring it down. He was the 6th Year male Gryffindor prefect and was doing rounds with Draco, the Slytherin 6th year Slytherin prefect. Neville sent his patronus down the train to tell Ron and Theo they had found Harry.

Harry Dragon smirked at everyone as they crowded in the compartment to have a peek at the person sleeping on him. Salazar's long blond hair misled several of the gang regarding his gender on the first quick glance.

Hermione laughing out loud in delight half an hour after they all entered the compartment was what finally woke Salazar. It had taken Ron that long to realize that very few females have bulging biceps and sculpted abs. His comment of, "Bloody hell, is that a guy?"

Salazar yawned and opened sleepy blue eyes. He blinked a few times before gently twisting around so that his butt was on the seat and he could face the crowd. He looked around at all the people staring at him. "Is there any particular reason you are all staring at me?" He inquired as one eyebrow quirked up.

Theodore could not help himself. "We were just wondering who you are? Why are you using our dragon as an interactive plushy? What are you doing here? Oh, just any number of questions really." He looked around at the rest of the crowd. "Can anyone else think of anything I might have forgotten?"

Hermione giggled again. "Actually, Theodore, I think that was a rather comprehensive list. I am impressed with you. Did you think of those all by yourself or did Crabbe and Goyle help?"

Gregory Goyle looked at the mean nasty witch and stated with utter conviction, "I would recognize Salazar Slytherin anywhere after seeing pictures of him and Harry plastered in the papers every day for the last week." He stopped speaking and gathered his thoughts before continuing. "Well to be honest, Harry has been in the papers almost every day since the Department of Mysteries." He looked around with a pleased smile on. "You know, I am really looking forward to disappearing down into the chamber for the weekend and catching up with everyone. I missed you all. Goyle Grange is not a very exciting place even if I did manage to get my summer project up and running."

Crabbe waited until Goyle finished speaking before he added, "Crabbe Apple Cove was not the youth hotspot this summer either. I had a lot of free time and spent most of it reading the papers and keeping up with most of our interests. I even looked though our library and found three books that the _Quibbler_ reading list said was good supplemental reading for some of the books Harry and Salazar pulled out of their dowry vault."

Everyone stared at Crabbe in shock. "Oh, and I had a lot of help from me mum, but I did all the muscle work for getting me project up and running."

Everyone else was too dumbfounded to speak. Salazar leaned forward. "About those books, did you bring them with you?"

Crabbe beamed. "Yeah, and best of all, me father said the books were stupid and useless and he did not care what I did with them.

Harry Dragon's whiskers twitched at that. He somehow doubted that that was the whole story. He could almost bet Crabbe had cast a compulsion charm on his father before asking about the books. The Crabbe family was not really stupid; part of their family magic was a strong talent for illusions.

The rest of the crowd was eager to see the Crabbe books after that. Once they decided there was something they wanted to do it seemed to take forever to get to Hogwarts.

The beginning of term feast was doomed to start late the second Minerva McGonagall noticed the blond walk into the Great Hall beside Harry Potter. She gave an enraged hiss and threw Hat at them before whirling around, robes flying, and then marched back to her place at the head table to sit down.

No amount of cajoling from Dumbledore was going to stir her. Minerva had her sails up and that was the end of her cooperating. She saw Potter the second he walked through the doors and she did not want to be around him. She refused to admit seeing him still in dragon form caused her some guilt.

The blond who walked in behind him though was a whole different matter. She recognized him as the one in the bank who had tried to kill her in an unprovoked attack. However, as he was with Potter it might mean he was the rumored Potter consort.

Minerva just glared at the students as they entered the hall and took their seats. She was not going to vacate her seat and leave herself wide open to another attack by the blond. Someone else could bloody well do the sorting this year since it was not her job exclusively anyway. Sod tradition, she was going to err on the side of caution.

Surprisingly, Snape stood up and approached the two. "Gentlemen, if you would be so kind as to hand me the hat I will begin the sorting."

There was no need to explain… Everyone in the hall could hear Dumbledore trying to cajole McGonagall to no visible effect. More than one person had already snarled, "Just tell the cat to get up off her duff and do her job!" But, no, why should we do something logical when we can waffle along and make a right fool of ourselves.

Harry smiled at Snape. "Thank you, Professor Snape." As he handed him the hat he turned to Salazar and said, "May I introduce Professor Severus Snape to you?"

Salazar inclined his head. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Sir. Harry mentioned your professional skills several times. I look forward to learning from you."

Snape turned back to Harry as he continued the introduction. "Sir, may I present to you Salazar Slytherin. I had the good fortune to do some time travelling this summer. I made his acquaintance and after we bonded, he agreed to come forward in time with me."

Snape almost dropped Hat at hearing that pronouncement. He had read the papers, but had not believed most of it. A second later he regrouped and after giving a small bow to Slytherin, and after murmuring a polite, "I look forward to brewing some potions with you," walked over to the stool and called the first name.

Twenty minutes later the thirty five new students had been sorted. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Slytherin each received eight new students and Hufflepuff was the big winner of the year with eleven new members. As the eight new Gryffindors gathered at the end of the table Harry smiled at them and murmured, "Never mind, little lions. It is better to have quality than quantity."

At which point Hermione grinned at them and added. "Unless you are the Chinese, in which case sheer numbers can defeat even the best."

Salazar groaned before whining, "Oh, goody! Hogwarts is to be overrun with Hufflepuffs and we shall all be reduced to being duffers who eat vegetation until the end of our existence."

Harry glared at him and said, "Shut up and stop complaining about your veg. If you don't eat them I shall eat your lamb chops." He looked around while flashing his dragon smile, "And, you need to stop scaring the children."

Salazar dissolved into hysterical laughter. "You accuse me of scaring the children! You show your teeth and the wee beasties are nay affeared? Yea be the one to be mindin' yer manners!"

"Yes, Dear. Sorry, Dear." Was quickly chanted and had all the younger students laughing. He then turned a beady eye back to the blond who was trying to shift his mashed potatoes onto a little wee firstie's plate. "Salazar, will you please try to eat a bite of the potatoes before you shift them? Trust me when I say they are excellent even if they aren't prepared the same as when we ate fish and chips."

Salazar nodded at the children. "There, ye need nay be afeared of the great winged beastie on the morrow when he shifts from this wee bonny lad into a fire breathin' dragon."

The first years did not really know what was going on because Harry was in human form at present. They would learn soon enough.

Harry lifted his nose slightly and snorted elegantly just as Lady Slytherin had taught him to do. "Quite right."

The blond dissolved in a puddle of goo and spent the rest of the feast staring sappily at him mate. One of the tricks of managing a Veela, Lady Slytherin had once instructed Harry, was to frequently remind them they are loved. Salazar had been raised knowing that small affectation meant, "I love you."

The feast dragged on interminably it seemed, eventually though the group found their way down to the chamber. They arrived in twos and threes. The last one to show was Ronald. "Thank Merlin that it is a Friday night!" he said as he collapsed on a large comfortable couch the group had moved down into the Chamber of Secrets a few years ago.


	20. Summer Project, anyone?

Chapter 20: Summer Projects anyone?

A chorus of assents greeted his statement. Zabini broke the quiet with his inquiry, "What took you so long? We have all been here at least half an hour."

Ron sat up and looked around. "Sorry, guys. I was not paying attention to everyone leaving and before I knew it I was one of the last ones there. Dumbledore caught me before I could escape the Great Hall." He made big quote marks with his fingers as he said, "He wanted to 'talk' to me up in his office. Professor Flitwick came to my rescue by explaining that I was on my way up to the tower to get my project for him that I was working on this summer."

Seamus asked, "Did he act suspicious about the project?"

Ron snickered, "Flitwick told him that my actual Charms grade had been a borderline Troll and he had assigned some extra work to bring it up to acceptable so dad wouldn't have a conniption."

Harry and Salazar listened to him. Harry finally spoke, "Is everything all right with your family, Ron? Were any of you able to spend any time with your mother this summer? I know I did not make it back to Hogwarts to check on you all, but King Jareth said he dropped by a few times."

Jareth and Sarah had both sneaked into the Gryffindor common room and checked on all of Harry's friends for him after they returned to school. Neville perked up because he had a bit of a crush on Sarah while Ron was interested because he had found a role model in Jareth.

It had been traumatizing for the Gryffindors when Harry did not return from the Ministry of Magic with the others. Having Jareth and Sarah fly into Hogwarts in their animagus forms to visit with them had left a huge impact on all the children.

If the staff of Hogwarts had any idea how badly the children had needed counseling regarding Harry and various other issues it was not apparent. Jareth had promised the group that he would petition the Board of Governors to hire a full time mind healer to work along side Poppy. He also promised them that Dumbledore would not be informed about the mind healer.

Ron smiled. "Yeah. The King and Queen both visited. They are pretty awesome. They scheduled visits every few days with most of us so we could gather in groups and talk to them. That is most of what this business of summer projects has been about. Jareth told us that if we are concerned about how things are going that we need to do something about it ourselves."

Neville cut in on the conversation, "It was brilliant actually. They both visited Grandmother and I at Longbottom Manor and helped us both. Grandmother did not want to talk to them at first, but Queen Sarah managed to talk her around to what we think is happening and she helped me a lot with my summer project."

Salazar could feel Harry's excitement. "Tell us everything. I am almost sad we were not here to be part of this."

Ron wanted to talk but Greg and Vince beat him to it. Greg started with, "Vinny and I have been concerned with how weak our family magics are and after talking to King Jareth we have began a joint project. We are trying to develop an organic means for strengthening our magics as much as we can."

He received a positive response to that announcement and began to describe it. "We compiled a list of all our family members first, then tried to fill in charts and personal statistics with the goal in mind of increasing our magical capabilities through better nutrition and physical activities before resorting to potions, spells and rituals to enhance our capabilities."

Hermione's eyes lit up. "Would it be possible for me to see your research, Greg?"

Greg smiled and nodded. "We plan to let _Witch's Weekly_ publish some of our findings after doing a few more tests since that is one of the places we intend to advertise for test subjects from once we get a few more months of data built up regarding our own families. And, Queen Sarah has a set of our project notes right now and wants us to set up a few test groups of goblins to provide a larger data base."

Ron was practically vibrating with excitement by then. Within seconds of Greg falling silent he began, "Part of my summer project was to analyze family magic and begin ascertaining the feasibility of larger families having an impact of producing stronger and more adept magicals."

Hermione sat back in awe. Here were purebloods showing incredible enthusiasm for their magical heritage. These first few to speak, she could have sworn were not capable of doing much more than tie their own shoe laces. Yet they were spouting verbiage of a seasoned scientist. She was blown away listening to Greg and Ron discussing control groups, standardized magical core testing, and the merits of using different species as part of the independent variable to validate a hypothesis.

Salazar sat there with the same blissful expression on his face. Jareth had spoken to him and Harry briefly regarding what they hoped to accomplish once they reintroduced the benefits of purifying your magical core on a regular basis. Harry had pulled his 'notebook' out of his pocket and had drawn diagrams and written copious notes during the discussion. That now made sense. It was going to take him a little while to get over the idea that parchment was expensive and was to be used sparingly. In this century all kinds of facts were tracked for various and sundry reasons and they all had to be validated by a paper trail.

He reckoned that now would be a good time to get everyone's attention regarding his and Harry's project. It had not been a project sanctioned by Jareth and Sarah which would mesh with the other projects, but it had been an ongoing concern ever since Harry brought Bellatrix to Hogwarts 966. He waited for a lull in the conversations and took over. "I think the project Harry and I have begun is at the point where we should begin round two with a larger group. I would like to run a series of tests on everyone present and then introduce you all to a practice that fell out of fashion some six hundred and fifty years or so ago."

Harry spoke up before Hermione could start with the questions. "I don't know if any of you were aware that I did not time travel by myself to the year 996? I was initially scheduled to go by myself. However, I discovered at the last second my godfather's cousin, Bellatrix LeStrange, needed my assistance immediately. I loathed the idea of interacting with her, but took her with me regardless."

He had everyone laughing as he described bathing Bella the first time while in dragon form, of apparating her to Hogwarts and introducing her to the school, and of binding her so she could not cause harm. Then he turned serious and spoke of how Rowena and Helga took her off to the infirmary and began the arduous process of healing Bellatrix in mind, body and magic. He had tears in his eyes as he described the lonely abused woman who slowly emerged under the tender ministrations of the Hogwarts folks.

At the end of his story even Neville's eyes were suspiciously shiny. He stood up and moved away from the group to stand by himself for a few minutes as he thought about what Harry had just said. Bellatrix LeStrange being as much a victim as the abuser was not really that difficult to accept since he already knew what a wretched excuse for a wizard Dumbledore was.

He turned back to face everyone. "Harry, I have known you for five years now and during that time you have never lied to me. Since you saw fit to tell us how you have learned new information and grew and changed with it I will attempt to do the same. I would like to meet Bellatrix sometime soon and get to know her also."

Before anyone could begin questioning his motives he raised his wand and spoke, "I swear on my magic that I do not intend harm to Bellatrix Black LeStrange. My request to meet her is based strictly on the information given to me by Harry James Potter because I am striving for closure in the loss of my own parents and wish to add my assistance her plight if it becomes necessary. So mote it be."

Salazar stood and approached Neville. He extended his hand as Harry had taught him and spoke, "Lord Longbottom, I am Slytherin, Salazar Slytherin. I would like to make your acquaintance and make the offer of a house alliance should we find ourselves working toward the same goals."

Neville grasped the extended hand then pulled Salazar into a manly hug. He pulled back before answering. "House Longbottom accepts your offer of friendship, Lord Slytherin. May our alliance be one of peace and prosperity."

Harry grinned as he watched his husband interact with his closest associates. He gave them a second to chat then asked, "So, do I have any volunteers for our program or do I have to stun people from behind, work them over, then obliviate them?"

That had everyone jumping up and forming a line. Luna grinned as she plucked Hermione's sleeve and went to the head of the line. Her airy announcement of, "Ladies first!" had the boys automatically moving back a step so she could have room.

Draco sneered as he poked at her then hissed menacingly, "You're no lady. You're just a looney tune."

Luna turned to him with a wicked smile on her face before she raised both hands to gently cup the sides of his face and tilted it down as she stood on tip toes. Seconds turned into minutes while everyone waited for the two to stop kissing like they would die the second they let go of the other.

Salazar finally nodded to Harry who developed a horrible smirk and nodded back. They began to count down: 10, 9, 8…1. An earsplitting wolf whistle emanated next to the kissing duo and they both jumped apart clutching their ears while whimpering.

Harry shoved Luna gently back in line and said, "Now that we have everyone's attention, let me explain what will happen step by step."

Their procedures began with complete medical scans. Once everyone's current health was documented they moved to stage two and discussed the effect of magic on the body, the importance of purifying rituals, and what some of the effects are of not practicing magical hygiene. The results were about the equivalent of inadequate oral hygiene. Salazar stated clearly that a person did not need to purify their magic twice a day like one does his teeth. It was more of long term goal where cleansing your magic should be built around your social calendar so that you automatically schedule the baths as part of your life.

Hermione was the soul of restraint as she waited for everyone to talk about their projects. She was practically crying as she listened to Theodore and Neville talk about spending their summer working in a Crime Scene Investigation lab learning how to gather evidence and process it. They were so caught up in describing procedures and how to use all the equipment that they did not notice Hermione gripping the edges of her chair and practicing her breathing.

All of her hard work at maintaining fell apart when Luna asked Harry if he wanted her and Draco to discuss the initial stages of their research into the physical and physiological differences between magicals and mundane. Jareth had given both of them glamour charms and dossiers so they could intern at Cambridge College of Medicine over the summer. Hermione gave an anguished howl rather like a wounded animal, leaped out of her chair, and raced for the exit.

Gregory grabbed her and brought her back to the group. He sat down and pulled Hermione down on his lap and continued to hold her like he did his little sisters when they were crying.

Harry gave her a minute to calm slightly then stepped forward and slid unto the couch beside them. "Hermione, is there a problem, or are you just vexed with everyone for having a busy summer while you were on holiday with your parents?"

Since the question was stated that bluntly, Hermione had two options. She could choose to lie and say there was a problem, or she could admit that she was cross-eyed crazy with jealousy. She proved she was the better witch. After all, who can resist a frizzy headed witch with beautiful tear drenched honey gold eyes as she sobs piteously, "I can't help it! I want to do research too. An..ann…and HE left me out of it."

Harry pulled her into his arms and held her as Gregory did a quick escape back to the other side of the couch while he still could. Because honestly, everyone there knew Hermione Jane Granger has a tendency to get violent when she is in a bad mood. "Mione, I did ask King Jareth to check on you and he said that when he and Sarah visited your home the neighbor who lives in the three story cement block house just down the road told them you were on walking holiday of the Russian Steppes with your parents."

"We were. But, I would have rather stayed home and did something useful. Spending time with my parents is lovely. It's just not the same as compiling empirical data, writing research papers…" She broke down sobbing.

Hermione's outburst threw a damper on the whole party. Ron and Neville had no qualms of abandoning the crying girl. It just was not that big of a deal…Yet. Yes they had Research grants, Letters of Recommendation, Job Training Experience; they simply had no concept of what they had got out of the summer because they were purebloods who expected to be handed a job whether they were capable of performing it later on regardless.

The boys especially wanted to know about the research Seamus, Dean, and Blaise Zabini had compiled. The boys had devised their own experiment after having a discussion with Sarah. She had no problems with explaining to them that a male with magical potential always attracted her interests before a male with little to no access to his magical core did. Their thesis question involved analyzing the response they were going to get from a female.

If they could identify the lower spectrum magical/squib females through genetic attraction it could conceivably enlarge the gene pool… Once these females were identified would they be able to detect a difference between the blood status of the male involved in the experiment?

Dean- the muggle born

Seamus- the half blood

Blaise- the pure blood

All three boys had different approaches to chatting up females. All three were highly successful at attracting a target's attention. Sarah informed them that she would be verifying all the statistics and the boys were to stay within the parameters of the experiment. There was to be no ding-ding without the wedding ring or the goblins just might come and take someone from their family away without the luxury of having them 'speak the magic words!'

Hermione's breakdown cleared the chamber as the others in the group made their way back up the secret staircases leading to their common rooms. Soon it was just Harry, Hermione, and Salazar sitting on a sofa while watching the fire burn.

Harry and Salazar were tired so they cuddled together while waiting for Hermione to come to terms with her latest issue. Harry had never seen Hermione this distraught before and was considering intervention. He was about ready to concede defeat and contact King Jareth with a plea for assistance when she finally decided to speak.

"I am being a right ninny aren't I, Harry?" She did not wait for confirmation before continuing. "I don't mean to act so badly, but I really love research. It feels like I have been left out of everything and it hurts because our group is so important to me. They are the only friends I have."

Salazar decided to shut her up before Harry came unglued. "Hermione, there were two reasons King Jareth did not give you a project to work on."

She stopped sniffling and looked at him. "Two reasons?"

"Yes. First was the fact that you were with your family. The Goblin King is very family oriented and would have never thought to interfere with a family holiday unless there was a crisis. The second reason is because Harry sensed something special about you and he asked Jareth not to get you started on a topic before we could speak with you."

Hermione turned to Harry, surprise written on her face. "Harry?"

"I was not sure what it was in the beginning, Hermione. But, after Salazar explained to me about the  
need for us to find a third mate things just sort of stopped being a gut feeling and things started to fall into place. Anyway, we think you have been picked by Magic to bear children for Salazar and me if you so choose."

Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened to epic proportions. Shock was setting in even before she managed to squeak, "Me?"

Harry grinned. "Yep, you." He took in the vision of loveliness that she was. It was not difficult to recall the kiss they had shared in the broom closet several months ago.

Hermione sagged back into the couch and closed her eyes. Both men let her have her space but watched her carefully to make sure she was not in shock. She must have just needed to think things through though because they soon saw a small smile and lots of color bloom on her face.

Salazar could not resist. "You naughty wench, I know what that look means!"

Harry even managed to maintain a serious tone as he spoke, "Sal, do you remember when I explained that I do not fancy squishy boobs and stinky muffs?"

Hermione could not suppress the smile as she opened her eyes just slightly to watch her best friend. She knew he was going to say something awful- she just knew it! He did not disappoint her. When Salazar grinned and winked she knew she was done for.

"I forgot to take into account the Librarian factor. Maybe if we buy her a set of black leathers and only shag in the library where the smell of musty books will mask the fish smell somewhat…"

"Harry James Potter!" was shrieked at full volume as he was tackled by a brunette tornado. As she straddled him and looked down she conceded, "That has got to be the hottest thing I have ever heard. When can we do it?"

Salazar could not suppress the laughter as he fell backwards on the couch clutching his sides as tears leaked from the corners of his eyes. It was going to be totally awesome being bonded to this girl if the emotional roller coaster they had been on all afternoon ever leveled out any.

Hermione finally let Harry back up and then sat down between the two. She was gnawing on her lip slightly as she took a few deep breaths to steady herself. "I need to know everything you can possibly tell me about this." She waved her hands around in a circular motion to indicate their relationship. She lowered her eyes slightly and watched Harry through her lashes.

Harry just gazed at her steadily, taking in all of her posturing. He had noticed on a superficial level before that Hermione blatantly flirted with him constantly. Now that he knew there was a chance they would be together he found her behavior reassuring as well as endearing. He liked the idea that she had no problems telling him she found him attractive. He figured it was time he did the same.

Hermione was pleased when Harry raised a hand and traced her lips lightly with his slightly calloused finger tips. Her heart melted completely when he spoke, "I want you to know that you are my best friend in the whole world. I love Salazar. Obviously, since he and I soul bonded. But you, you have been with me for the last five years; there has been so much laughter and so many tears. I need to know that we will continue so I ask, Hermione Jane Granger, will you study the ancient magic texts with Salazar and me? Will you consider helping us bring back the Old Ways? And, will you consent to bond with us and become a triad family if Magic wills it so?"

Salazar recognized the ritual words Harry was attempting to invoke and added his magic to the ritual by also pledging his troth. "Hermione Jane Granger, we come to you with honest intent, united in soul and magic that you might consider life's journey both easier and more difficult if you walk it with us. I ask also that you study the texts with us, aid in our quest to renew knowledge of the Old Ways, and bond with us in body, mind, and spirit to form a perfect union if Magic so decrees?"

Hermione knew there was no formal ritualized answer to the question. She simply needed to state her intent to each part of the question. "I am honored to be part of this. I live to serve Magic by studying the texts, aiding you in your quest to renew the lifeblood of magic by reviving the Old Ways, and consider a triad family a great tribute if magic wills it so.

Salazar rose from the couch and extended his hands to the other two. "Come, let us go to our chambers. It grows light soon and we are in need of rest."

Harry stumbled slightly as he stood and yawned widely. "It has been a long night. Are you two ready to sleep? I am tired enough to pass out right here."

Hermione did not want to retire to her dorm. She did not want to deal with giggling girls asking her where she had been all night. She wanted to stay up and start in on the books Salazar and Harry had brought back from 996.

"No, Hermione." Harry seemed to have his yawning under control and was watching her. "You need to go to bed and sleep. We will not let you into the books until we are all ready to work with them."

Her eyes flashed dangerously. "I did not say anything, Harry."

He didn't pay heed to her warning. "The books that we have in our possession have not been perused in a thousand years. We don't know what kind of knowledge is tucked in between the bindings. I refuse to let you dive into the stack like a starving dog. You will either abide by our rules or we will look for a more suitable female candidate."

Her face went slack with shock. Harry had never spoken to her like that before. The thirst for knowledge was warring with her desire to assert her own dominance over the situation.

Salazar made the final decision easy for her. "Hermione, I can read your intentions clearly and I will tell you right now; this is no longer a game of I am better than you are at academics. If you intend to become part of the team you will listen and abide by the rules. We cannot have you doing whatever you want to. I know for a fact that several of the books are dangerous and will have to be neutralized and/or monitored the whole time they are open."

Hermione lowered her head, both in shame and in understanding. "I apologize. I will work on curbing my competitive nature when we are working on your books." Her shoulders were slumped as she turned to leave.

Salazar and Harry glanced at her and then did a bit of mental dialogue. Salazar opened his mouth again. "Hermione, if it is this difficult for you already it might be best to forget this conversation completely. I don't want you to have to subvert your whole personality just to stay with this project."

She turned around and stared at him. "Are you saying that you don't want me?"

He and Harry were a completely united front as they faced her. It was strange to hear them 'twin speak'. "Hermione, we can think of no one we want to be with us more than you. We want to absorb your strength and tenacity into our blood lines to form a better, stronger wizard community. What we do not want is to have you rebel halfway through the project because you do not like the strictures. We would rather you be safe and away from danger than not be able to depend on you."

She blinked a few times then the silent tears began. Both men escorted her up the Gryffindor steps and into the common room where Harry raised his hand and threw a knocking spell on the Girls 6th year dorm door.

Parvati and Lavender rushed down the stairs and pushed the guys aside so they could sit down with her. It was strange to see Lavender conjure tissues and help her dry her eyes. Eventually she stopped weeping and looked up to where Harry and Salazar were standing by a window waiting for her to regain herself.

Voice still thick with tears, Hermione stated, "I think I understand what you said. It hurts my feelings to know you are right. I will speak with Poppy and Dr. Wong as soon as possible."

Lavender smiled gently at Hermione. "Did they tell you who Dr. Wong is?"

All three of the gang flinched. "Yes, Lav, they did." Hermione confessed.

Lavender giggled then. "Don't worry about, Hermione. Dr. Wong is a certified Medical Doctor. I only know that Dr. Wong has a specialty because he is my mother's uncle by marriage. We have needed him here at Hogwarts for a long time." Then she added, "Before he took the post here he sat down with my family and told us why we could not let Dumbledore know he would be practicing in the capacity of mind healer."

"How could the Headmaster not know?" Parvati asked.

"Because he has only came back to Britain this summer. He has been in Japan working with the magical community there."

"Oh." Parvati murmured. "Let's get you up to bed, Hermione. It has been a long day and you need some sleep."

With that the girls all stood up, arms entwined, and made their way back up the staircase to their dorm.

Harry watched them go with narrowed eyes. "There is something different about Lavender and Parvati this year. Did King Jareth say anything about talking to more folks than just the gang?"

Salazar shrugged. "Don't know. We need to go to bed though and get some sleep. Dealing with Hermione is not going to be as easy as we would like, I think. We had best have our wits about us."

Harry agreed with him. "Yes, we will need to keep at least one step ahead of her until we know for sure we can rely on her to work with us." Then he grinned and said, "Damn, but wasn't she hot when she tackled me and demanded to know when we could do the library sex scene?"

Salazar laughed. "I think we are going to have to dig out the book that talks about marriage bonds first. Before we are allowed to touch her sexually we are going to need to brew some potions to establish her family tree, perform half a dozen rituals to bind us all together but still keep our family trees separate."

"OK. I get the point. Sleep. Too tired to think."

"Are you too tired to make love to me before we sleep?"

Harry smiled sweetly. "You know very well that I want to make love to you. That was the whole reason behind marrying you. Now, let us go to our chambers and do more kissing and less talking."

Salazar tugged the younger man against his side and set off for their quarters. Being married to Harry Potter was a marvelous thing.


	21. Broken Enlightenment

Chapter 21: Broken Enlightenment

On their way down to Salazar's quarters they encountered Millicent Bulstrode coming back from the kitchens. She smirked at them. "What are the wee laddys doing out so late?"

Harry, who never seemed able to abide Millicent, snarled, "We were up in the Astronomy playing tonsil hockey. How about you? Over there in the kitchens keeping your weight up?"

Millicent stood there blocking their way. "It would not hurt you to gain some weight, little man. Maybe the other little man standing beside you would not mistake you for a woman then."

Salazar waved his hand and she stumbled out of their way. Before he moved though he looked her up and down, "I can respect that sentiment coming from you because you probably are more of a man than both of us put together."

Millicent stood there glaring daggers at their retreating backs. She finally stomped her feet in anger. Oh, but they would pay for that. She did not think in terms of them just retaliating for her uncouth remarks. No, they would pay for their insolence. No one pissed off Millicent Bulstrode and walked away unscathed.

Pansy, watching from the shadows, finally went forward to stand beside Millie and watch as the two disappeared into a seemingly solid wall. "The newspapers say that the blond man is Salazar Slytherin. Supposedly Harry Potter disappeared from the Hall of Mysteries last spring when they went to the Ministry of Magic and travelled back in time. They met in the year 996, bonded and returned to modern times."

Millie heaved a sigh, most of the anger draining out of her. "Potter has always just managed to annoy me beyond all belief. I thought him being cursed to be a dragon was funny as all hell, and then he makes being a dragon _tres chic_. What really pissed me off about their statement is that it is true. I do make a better man than either of them. And Merlin only knows that they definitely make a better looking woman than I do."

Pansy hugged her distraught friend. "Come on, Millie. Let's go back to the common room. Maybe Greg and Vince will still be up and they can tell us the latest gossip."

Millie shook her head. "Pans, Greg and Vince have not told us the latest gossip since we got sorted into Slytherin five years ago. They both went with Malfoy and last year they declared their loyalties when House Potter was aided by House Malfoy in January."

Pansy sighed. "I know. It is just that the Wizarding world is changing and I do not know what to do about it. Where do we fit in, Millie?"

Millie turned and headed for the common room, all thoughts of food and friends cleared from her mind.

"Millie, would you please slow down! You know I cannot keep up with you when you stride."

"We need to get back to the dorm. I want to write a letter to mother while I am still thinking about it. Pansy, we need more information so you need to write home also."

"What do we need information on?" Pansy was practically jogging to keep up with her.

"We have not heard our parents talk about our Lord since the Department of Mysteries fiasco. Now this guy claiming to be Salazar Slytherin is here at Hogwarts. It was my understanding that our Lord was carrying out the noble work of Slytherin, but Slytherin is canoodling with Potter while Potter is trying to terminate our Lord. I am adding up one plus one plus one and getting negative one."

"Well we did cover absolutes in Arithmancy class the other day." You could practically see the wheels turning in her head as she tried to work it out. "Millie, I keep coming up with zero. How did you get one? I mean if you add a negative one and a negative one you get a positive one, but when you add the other negative one it becomes a zero. Or, Oh, OK , I get it. You added two positive ones and one negative one and got one. So, if we assign the positives as Slytherin and our Lord and the negative as Potter then Slytherin and Potter cancel out and Our Lord is the only one left. Millie, that is just frigging brilliant."

Millie had stopped walking and was staring at Pansy. "What in the name of Circe's saggy tits are you ranting about?"

"I just figured out what you were alluding to. But, I definitely agree we need to write home and tell our families about Slytherin, or whoever he is, being here at school. This is so cool!"

Millicent Bulstrode, for the first time since she was caned by her father for letting the frargools out of their pens and the swurch snarks got them, burst into tears and ran. Pansy Parkinson, in her infinite stupidity, had broken her.

Pansy, unaware that she had dealt such a lethal blow to the Dark Side, merely toddled off to the Slytherin Common room where she was sure to find someone else who would help her work on her theory. Oh, but it was glorious to be alive and on the Dark Side! With any luck they would have cookies, hot chocolate, and a dental plan. She was not too worried about childcare at this point since she would need to graduate, get married, and then work on popping out the sprogs.

Albus Dumbledore, disillusioned, had been following them to see if he could gather any useful information. The only information he gathered was: he was now mentally disillusioned as well as physically. He had gone from not being seen to not seeing… He was certain that if ears could go blind that would have been a good thing not to see. Millicent Bulstrode with a penis was not an image the ancient wizard needed- regardless of his gender preferences.

Morning always comes too early at Hogwarts. It probably comes too early everywhere else on the planet also, but it is especially difficult for a castle full of adolescents who like to stay up all night talking and then sleep all day. For those few who like early mornings…well, you can have them. No one is fighting you for them. Take them. Carry them off somewhere and play with them. The rest of the world does not care!

That is not strictly true. Albus Dumbledore actually worries about it. It is not that he even wants early mornings; he just does not want anyone else getting them. So, he drags his wrinkly old arse out of bed and shimmies it down the corridors and into the Great Hall where he kicks back in his throne like chair and pretends that he is LORD of all he surveys. (That man has some serious issues.)

Today his issue was the fact that Harry Potter had not slept in his bed in the Gryffindor 6th year dormitory. Albus knew this because he had personally applied several monitoring charms in Harry's assigned personal space.

He would also have to deal with the blond boy who was waltzing around with Potter. The same blond who kept playing grab ass with Potter. Back when he was in school partners were more discreet. (They also had to feed their dinosaurs Darvon to get them moving.)

Harry and Salazar made an appearance in the Great Hall just in time to grab toast and milk before the food at the table vanished. Salazar looked at Harry, "Are you hungry, Dear Heart?" He inquired solicitously.

Harry bit into his toast. After chewing and swallowing the bite he looked at Salazar and said, "Yes, I think I would like a more substantial meal than toast and milk."

Dumbledore had made his way down to the Gryffindor table by then and heard Harry's answer. "Breakfast is finished with, boys. I would like for you to grab you toast and head up to my office with me. We have a few things to discuss."

Salazar tapped the table gently as he watched the great Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore further alienate Harry. Dobby showed up with a platter and set it between Harry and Salazar then popped away before the Headmaster could say anything to him.

So, Albus said it to the boys. "It really is not kind of you to request food and drink from the house elves when breakfast was clearly over. You should have arrived at a more respectable time if you wanted a meal, or you could have waited until lunch."

Harry popped a rasher of bacon in his mouth and chewed as he listened attentively to the old guy. Having finished the bacon he opened his mouth and spoke. "My husband asked me if I was hungry. I responded that I would like a more substantial meal than bread and milk. Our personal elf brought the food to us. Where is the problem with that?"

Albus sputtered. He turned to Salazar and asked, "What did he say? I really must learn dragon if it is possible."

Salazar leaned forward on his forearms and smiled through gritted teeth. "I don't think it will be possible for you to learn dragon. It seems to be one of those things you either know or you don't know. As for what he said, let me give you the short version. My food, My elf, My business."

Albus narrowed his eyes and glared at the blond. "Who, precisely, are you? You are not a transfer student, you are not a regular student… Explain."

Salazar grinned. "My name is Salazar Sterling Slytherin. I was one of the four teachers given credit for starting this school. If you remember your history correctly, the books tell you that Salazar disappeared from the school one day and was never seen again."

"Impossible!" Albus sputtered.

Salazar gave him a blinding white smile. "Impossible you say. He shook his head in disappointment before gently chastising, "This from a man who has been a wizard for more than one hundred and fifty years. Have you not learned by now that when Magic is involved any outcome is possible? "

Albus was not in the mood to accept Slytherin's sarcasm. "Could you tell me about this 'trip' you took this summer, Harry?"

The dragon bared his teeth at him in a facsimile of a smile and began projecting mental images of the two of them shifting through time.

Albus was forced to nod his head in acceptance. "Very well, I will accept that your time travel is valid. I do want to know more about the circumstances surrounding the event though. I should actually like to hear everything about the situation that you can recall."

Salazar shrugged. "Not much to it. Harry and I were discussing our very real need to return to the year 1996. We were hanging out and chillin' with the homey 'g's at Slytherin Castle and the next minute I was picking myself up off the floor here at Hogwarts. I think the correct term for it was time travel. I would not recommend time travel for just anyone though because if you do not have the proper anchor in the time you are travelling to you can wind up turning to dust. I almost did that- turn to dust that is. Messy dirty business! It was a good thing I had Harry to hold on to."

The old man glared at him. "I expect you to pack your stuff and be gone from here within the hour. I will not tolerate your shenanigans. Do I make myself clear?"

"No." Salazar said in a calm low voice. "I am not going anywhere because I really do own one fourth of this castle. I am married to the Potter heir who also owns one fourth of this castle. That makes the castle half ours. We want to live here so we will live here. What do you intend to do about it?"

"I will inform the Board of Governors that you are squatting here and they will issue a request from the Office of Magical Law Enforcement and they will arrest you and evict you from the premises."

Salazar was starting to get rather irritated with the old fool. "The Hogwarts Charter states that any descendant of the four founders may attend Hogwarts free of charge and if they are the Head of the family they are allowed private quarters for themselves, their spouse(s) and any progeny."

Albus was angry enough to pull his wand and hex the blond by the time he stopped speaking. "You will be showing me that specific paragraph rather soon. If you are going to quote Charter to me you had best be able to prove it."

Harry did a bit of hissing at Salazar and the blond's eyes widened before he nodded and turned back to Dumbledore. "Harry has just reminded me to tell you that while we were stumbling around in time we came to the aid of a lady by the name of Bellatrix Black LeStrange."

Albus' eyes flashed dangerously, but it was not enough to enrage him into pulling his wand.

"We went to a great deal of trouble to render aid to the lady and just to let you know, she is now in fine condition and the children will be born alive, healthy, and right on schedule. You, though, may not live to see that day."

"Don't threaten me, young man." Dumbles stated with absolute conviction even as his voice shook with rage.

Salazar gave him a lazy smile. "Don't try to piss me off to the point where I transform. I was only trying to scare the little pussy cat the other day. I will not be so kind as to miss if I throw fireballs at you."

Their pissing contest would probably have carried on for the rest of the day except the dragon thumped its tail and caused the bench to shake. Both of the combatants looked over at him as he casually wiped a bit of syrup off his whiskers from where he upended the plate full straight into his maw.

Harry narrowed his green eyes at the headmaster and burped lightly. The old man jerked back to avoid the small bit of flame that escaped the dragon's mouth.

Harry and Salazar rose from the table. Harry handed Sal a huge banana walnut raisin muffin just as Sal tapped the table again. "Good day, Headmaster." Salazar said before he turned with the dragon and began walking out the door.

Harry felt the air around them change as the spell signature registered. Dumbledore had cast a stunner at Salazar's back. This was not a good thing!

Harry reached out a clawed hand and absorbed the spell before turning and looking straight at the old man who still had his wand out and was preparing to cast a second spell. The small jet of flame whirled around the wand and burnt it to a crisp in seconds flat.

Dumbledore stood there with his hand outstretched while a line of ash dripped to the floor. The image was rather reminiscent of burning a stick of incense. Then it hit him, he was standing there with no wand! Power swirled around him thick and heavy as he glared at the errant dragon. "Do you have any idea what you have done, you stupid little boy!" He roared.

One lazy eye rolled in his direction before turning to Salazar. His hissing and chirping was almost drowned out by Dumbledore standing there throwing a grade A tantrum. Harry did manage to communicate to Salazar, "That felt like something I was supposed to do. Do you think maybe I am supposed to toast the whole damn dumb-as-a-door?"

Salazar pulled his wand and did a diagnostic charm on Harry. Both of them appearing to be ignoring the old man completely but tracking his movements subtly. "I am not sure exactly what it means, Harry, but according to this, the spell has changed slightly. You might be on to something." was hissed in Parseltongue so that Albus could not draw any conclusions.

The Veela and his dragon went on out the door to enjoy some time in the sun before the typical Scottish weather began to do its thing. Harry was almost incandescent with joy. "Do you think it could really be that easy for us to break the spell on me?"

Salazar was confused, "How? I don't understand?"

Harry grinned his cute little dragon grin. "The Deathly Hallows. Destroying them could be my task. I have the cloak of invisibility in my possession already. The only other thing I would need to find is the resurrection stone. It is supposed to be in your family also."

Salazar looked at him rather askance. "Harry, what are you babbling about?"

Harry giggled. "Of course you would not know what I am on about. The Tales of Babbity Rabbity, or whatever she was called, was not written until much later."

Salazar shook his head. "Of course, Dear, I understand exactly what you are on about. There have only been two or three books written since the 10th Century so I will just pick up the correct one and have it read by tea time."

Shaking him dragon tail a bit wildly, Harry managed to smack Salazar squarely across the arse. "Listen, Bird man. There are several folk tales collected together and were printed under the name of Beedle the Bard. One of the stories is about three brothers Peverall who trick Death and he rewards them. One brother requested a wand, the second brother a way to bring back the dead, and the third wanted a way to hide from Death."

Sal listened to Harry before saying, "Let us go to the Library and procure this book. I should like to know all that is written."

They made their way back into the school and up to the library in very short order. Salazar made a sweeping bow as he made his way to the Librarian. "As I live and breathe! Irma Pince! I am shocked beyond words to see you still here." He gently took her hand and touched his lips lightly to her knuckles.

Irma shook her head. "I do not know why you would act so surprised to see me, Salazar Slytherin. You knew when you hired me that I was a Day Walker. Since the only thing I care to do is play in my books, there is little danger at Hogwarts for me."

Salazar inquired, "Are you well? Do you get enough to eat? And what is with the awful glamour you wear? You were the most ravishing woman at Hogwarts."

Irma smiled, a rare pleased expression on her face. I do surprisingly well. I have the aid of a few good human friends and they donate to me. I have not hunted in half a century. I am pleased with my life. I have let myself age a bit because I do not eat as often as I should but a few feasts and I can be back in the bloom of youth."

Salazar nodded his head. If you need a bite to tide you over just let me know. He could not help but wink as she giggled like a little girl.

"You know very well that an extra bit of blood makes all the difference at times."

"Yes, I do know. I well remember a few of the young ones at Hogwarts. Some only needed a tablespoon of someone different from time to time, but they did need it."

You don't get to be a thousand and some years old vampire by denying yourself constantly. Irma agreed with him. "I will take you up on your offer. May I have your arm right now?"

No theatrics, he simply extended his hand and let her turn it to suit herself. A quick nip, a lick to seal the wound, and Irma Pince practically glowed as she waltzed around the rest of the day feeling quite like she had feasted.

While they had been chatting, Harry went straight to the section on legends and folk lore and pulled Beedle off the shelf. When Salazar finished chatting with Irma he joined the dragon at a table beside the sunny window. Then while Salazar read the tale, Harry laid his scaly little head on the table and proceeded to sleep in the sun.

Salazar let him sleep, after all, teenagers require between seven and nine hours of sleep a night in order to develop into healthy adults and he had kept his darling husband awake and occupied until almost the last second. Sal loved his husband, and he loved his dragon form, however, he did not feel it necessary to mate with the dragon… that was just disgusting and he was not going to go there.

Hermione found Salazar and Harry in the library just before dinner time. She was wide eyed and glowing with happiness, which was strange since their last view of her the night before had been a water logged mess with blood shot eyes.

Harry shrugged, he would be the first to admit that he knew nothing about women, did not care to learn much about them either. He knew that that sentiment was going to probably get him killed if he did not change it, but he decided to work on that aspect of the relationship later.

Salazar knew better than to endorse the same sentiments. He did not feel too put out regarding her changes- actually, yes he did. It was going to be rather unnerving to have a Doctor Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde witch as their bond mate. That bloody psychiatrist had better be worth what he and Harry was paying him. Then he revised his thinking to include the thought of 'I hope the guy is up to the challenge of some of the people here at Hogwarts'.


	22. Who understands women?

Chapter 22: Who understands Women?

Hermione wanted to tell them that she had called home and spoke with her parents. She had originally intended to write them since they were not hooked up to the floo and had opened her writing case only to notice it had been tampered with. She had been on her way to file a complaint with McGonagall when she remembered the two-way mirrors that Sirius had made for her and her parents.

Hermione had gone outside, found a comfortable spot and broken out her half of the communication mirrors and proceeded to speak with her family. She had explained most of the situation to Dan and Emma and they were pretty good about filling in the blanks in a few places. They knew she was thinking about entering a three way marriage with her being the only female. Emma found the idea rather intriguing and told Hermione so. Dan was not sure how he felt about the situation. How does a father come to terms with his only daughter's love life when it involves two men? Neither of whom you have met. Yeah, it was awkward.

Salazar waited until she had repeated the salient points to them then asked her to think about keeping a journal. He wanted her to understand that people's opinions were going to change from day to day and conversation to conversation. Some points would become clear while other ideas and opinions would leave her next to broken if she did not focus on what she perceived her game plan was going to be.

The idea suited her and she soon had a spiral bound notebook and a biro out. She was currently busy writing down all the privacy spells Salazar was placing on the notebook. In the middle of animating a wand movement she stopped and drew a heart and put their initials in it. As Salazar looked at her in confusion she giggled like the school girl she was and explained that she had always wanted a boyfriend and she wanted to do that. Go figure? She also took the time to explain to him that his wordless wandless magic really got her excited. She adored really smart men. It was only logical to ask if she had a crush on Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy before Salazar and Harry expressed an interest in her. The red tinge to her cheeks was 'nuff said!

Hermione finally ran out of chatter and began asking questions regarding last night. "Can you tell me anything else about King Jareth and Queen Sarah. I don't really understand why they are going to such great lengths to help Harry. Is Harry related to them?" She asked innocently.

Salazar looked at her. "Hermione, I am not sure Harry knows the real you. He told me you are a steady, hardworking young lady. He even used the words straight laced. I am sitting here wondering if that is a good thing or not. I get the feeling you are not nearly as rigid in your views as you try to make out that you are."

She gave him a mock glare but did not dispute the diagnosis.

"OK. you want to know about Jareth and Sarah's family, yes? He and Sarah have three living children who have all grown up and left the Underground. Their daughter, Cherylindria, is married to a Royal Elf and they have just had their first child. That is the baby that was expected when they helped Molly Weasley escape Albus' trap to do her harm.

The two boys, Mercel and Vergus are somewhere in the United States. They are pretty much just ordinary goblins. They are good animagi and they are out and about having fun in life.

They had one other child who turned out to be almost fully human. He did not express any talent as a goblin though so they let him attend Hogwarts and masquerade as human. Sarah Williams' mother was a Potter, so when James was ready for school her Uncle Charlus and his wife Dorea blood adopted James and made him their heir."

Salazar watched her absorbing the information. She did not seem adverse to the information so he continued. "They did not realize that his talent for Transfiguration was a manifestation of Chaos Magic."

James had a very good grip on Chaos Magic which was why he took up pranking and gathered the crowd he did. And, so that is the story of why King Jareth is so willing to help Harry. Harry is his grandson."

Hermione nodded in understanding before asking, "Is Harry in line for the throne?"

The dragon raised its head and gave a small bark that Hermione knew meant 'no'.

She looked at him. "I can honestly say I am pleased to hear that, Harry. I have no desire at this point to have to consider whether I want to take into account 'can I be a good queen'. I do not want to think about such things right now." She grinned at the two of them and said, "I have been thinking of very little except that I have two really hot guys interested in me and in whom I am interested in return."

Harry Dragon shook his head in the affirmative and after a few warbles and chirps went back to sunning himself.

Salazar felt that the conversation with Hermione and the two of them regarding sex needed to be done when all three of them were human. That was what Harry had said also. That meant it was up to him to change the subject because Hermione seemed well within the limits of comfortable regarding the subject. But then again, this was the same girl who had just cheerfully admitted that her mother admitted having two guys might be interesting.

It was going to be a long year! He decided that the subject change could include some of the things that they would need to do to prepare for step one. He asked, "Hermione, when do you think you want to meet the mind healer?"

She thought about it for a second before pulling out her planner. "I have a free block first thing Monday. I will stop by the infirmary and put my name down in the book for then, why?"

"I want you to have a few sessions with him before we start going through the books. I want you to be comfortable talking with him so that when we start reading the books you will have someone to speak with outside of our developing relationship. Harry and I did not have a detailed or lengthy discussion regarding, you, the books, or the relationship. We did agree though, that reading the books on bonding and marriage in the Wizarding world would probably be a good place to start." He could not read her expression so he asked, "What do you think about the idea of familiarizing ourselves with some of the bonds and family rituals before we decide to work on steps two and three?"

Her smile was beautiful. "I really like that idea. After Lavender and Parvati helped me get ready for bed this morning I talked to them for a bit regarding what you said about my obsession with knowing more than everyone else. Both girls said that I was lucky you two pointed it out right away that I would have to work with you. Lavender explained it just a bit more in detail what happens when a triad bond does not balance. I appreciate you warning me that it is not a dominance issue."

Salazar nodded his head in acceptance. "I am pleased that you are working on that issue. Dr Jung is a leading authority in the field of triad marriages. I am looking forward to talking to him about my impressions and misconceptions."

Hermione shook her head in an exasperated way. Salazar and Harry had only been married for about a month and already they sounded like two mouths with the same tongue. Then her dirty little mind switched to visions of two tongues… She stood up and asked, "Would you like to walk down to dinner? It is that time."

Harry stood up on his back legs and flexed his wings a bit. It was Ok being a dragon most of the time, but sometimes he would just like to settle back and be a regular guy. Regular guys did not have scales instead of blue jeans though and they certainly would rather use their brooms to fly with instead of their wings.

He made a vow to go upstairs after dinner and figure out a way to destroy the cloak. He was pretty sure it was flame retardant so burning it was probably out of the question. Stabbing it with a basilisk fang was not going to work either. He would have to see if either cutting it up into little bitty pieces and then destroying it would work. Failing all else, he could chew it up and eat it.

They would have to send feelers out to inquire about the ring. Harry had not been entirely honest with Salazar this afternoon. Instead of wasting his time sleeping, he had spent an hour or so organizing his mind and sorting through what he did know regarding the deathly hallows. He had not heard anything about the ring at all.

He had traced the mind link back a few times before to Tom, or the Dark Lord Voldemort as he liked to be called. Harry had stumbled upon the memory of the horcruxes and got them sorted out.

Then he had a news flash. The ring that Tom used could very well be the same ring that he was thinking he would need to find and destroy. If it were the same ring it should be easy enough to track down. The best place to start would be to slip Dumbledore some lemon drops laced with blather potion then act like he wanted to have a private conversation with some of the others to discuss the viability of Voldie having done such a thing as to split his soul and infuse the bits into inanimate objects.

Speaking of horcruxes… he would have to get together with Tom and ask him if it would be possible for him to reabsorb those bits and pieces because frankly he was not playing with a full deck. There was nothing to be done about the diary. It had been destroyed. It was gone- a major piece no less. The locket, the cup, the diadem and himself should be enough to get the neurons firing properly though. Harry mentally did a face palm- Merlin but he hoped so!

Harry idly perused the thought that Dumbledore finally cracked and went well past the point of no return as a dark lord sometime after his lover, the famous Gellert Grindelweld, had been neutralized. Voldemort cracked somewhere along the time he murdered his family and made the diary horcrux. He was not sure what to call the death of Moaning Myrtle. Had she been Tom's soul anchor? The ghost he met did not seem to be one of the sorts that could capture and hold the affections of a man such as Tom Marvolo Riddle. But, there was no accounting for taste so who was he to judge another. There were probably plenty of magical folks back in 996 wondering what it was that their beautiful blond man saw in the scrawny black haired boy to get his panties in a twist.

He guessed that was part of what made life such a stunningly average mystery. Even if a body had the time to sort out such a silly concept they would not do it because there was no way to catalogue the variables.

So it remained how was he to approach Tom Marvolo Riddle and get him to reabsorb his bits and pieces that he had scattered all over the British Isles. Maybe Harry could send an owl to Jareth and ask him to head north so they could talk in person. 'Yes, that ought to work.' He thought and whistled for Hedwig before going to find pen and paper.

Salazar was in awe of the concept of post owls. "When did such a thing come about?" He asked. "You never once mentioned such a concept back when father asked what innovations he might get the benefit of if he only knew the theory."

Harry smiled sheepishly at his husband. "Honestly, Salazar, I forgot about it. Hedwig is more of my familiar than she is a post owl. Her original purpose was to be a post owl but I cannot reduce her to that. She is so smart, and she is beautiful. She has been my only friend besides Hermione most of the time since being in the Wizarding world. She was my first birthday present, my first true friend. I think that if I had to I would die for my owl."

Salazar blinked. When he had asked a simple question he had not expected such a long and complicated answer. He blinked again then smiled. "I can definitely understand that. Peridot was my first familiar and he has been marvelous."

Then it was Harry's turn to smile. "I think that he is still your familiar for the most part. He loves me and tolerates me but he had never tried bonding beyond the part of loving on me to get strips of raw meat when I did the cooking at the Dursley house."

Salazar had to agree that Peridot was one of those familiars who loved more with his stomach than with his heart. The little beast did come after hearing his name being bandied back and forth a few times and settled on Harry's neck to look over at Salazar.

Both men burst into laughter at his antics. He really was an adorable creature and he had all the innate good and bad qualities of his larger cousins.

When Harry was first cursed to be a dragon the first rays of sunlight caused him to change from man to beast while the first hint of darkness never seemed to sway him. Only at complete darkness would Harry turn back into his human form. Now, with the destruction of the elder wand it was almost like magic was giving Harry a reward for good behavior. As the sun began to set Harry found himself changing back into his human form. As the sun often took quite a few minutes to set it was a significant reward.

He turned joyful eyes to Salazar. "Sal!" was all he managed to squeal before the blond tackled him and began to snog the life out of him.

Finally finished celebrating their good fortune, Salazar said, "Let us put the extra ten minutes to good use."

"However do you mean?"

Sal just held him and whispered, "Like this. I love you so much and every minute you are in my arms is joy beyond measure." He then smiled at Harry and said, "We need to go visit with Bellatrix and let her know that things are looking up!"

They made their way over to the fireplace and threw a pinch of floo powder into the fire. A minute or so later they were exiting the grate at 12 Grimmauld Place and calling for Kreature to let him know they were there.

Kreature, the house elf, caused Harry to stop and look at him consideringly. "Kreacher," he finally asked, "Are you the same elf the Dork Lord Voldiepants asked for to help him with the cave, the potion, the inferi?"

The little old elf fell down at Harry's feet and began to moan and gibber about being a bad elf and not being able to save his Master Regulus.

Harry waited for a few seconds before firmly calling, "Kreacher, I need you to stand and attend to me."

Kreacher stopped moaning about Regulus and started in about nasty little half bloods wanting to be waited on by the poor elf who could not even save his beloved master.

Salazar grinned. "Not many issues with this one is there?"

Harry could not suppress the chuckle. "No. Insanity pretty much covers a multitude of sins."

The muttered reply of, "Wonderful, simply wonderful." Went unchallenged as Salazar watched Harry try to get the house elf's fractured mind to start healing a bit. The Veela could feel the magic in the air, but tried to remain passive because Harry had not actually asked for any help.

Harry was amazing to watch. Salazar reckoned he would make a formidable mediwizard if he ever realized that was his true calling. With only a bit of calming magic, he had the house elf listening eagerly. How Harry could even hazard a guess that Regulus had given Kreacher a task that he was unable to perform was beyond Salazar's comprehension.

Kreacher bounced in place as he bobbed his ugly little head back and forth. "Yes, Master Regulus gave Kreacher the task of destroying the locket." Then the elf looked over at Salazar and with a shaking finger and a very very scary look on his ugly face, said, "It is his locket that does be giving Kreacher a bad name as a house elf."

Salazar was shocked. "Whatever do you mean, elf? I have not been messing about creating cursed objects. The only locket I had was a silver one with a miniature of mother on one side and my sister Serena on the other. It was stolen from me some weeks ago. I did not raise a fuss because I assumed that the Goblin King had taken it. He was very much in love with Serena."

There was not much arguing Kreacher could do about it except to go get the locket he had sworn to destroy so that his master could rest in peace. The locket was fetched and placed before Harry. "This be the locket that Master Regulus gave his life to destroy. We could not get him out of the cave even with my house elf magic and he is trapped as one of the undead who guard that nasty place."

Harry understood the pain the little elf was in. "Kreacher, along with this locket, we have with us the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, and another small sliver of his soul. We are going to need to visit with cousin Bellatrix and then we will come back here and see about reassembling the soul parts back into the man who used to be known as Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Kreacher nodded and reached shaky hands out to touch Harry. "Kreacher does not much like young Master Half-blood but he will work with filthy half-blood if it helps Master Regulus rest."

Harry rubbed his hands together and gave an evil overlord laugh that had Kreacher's ears perking up while Salazar twitched slightly and attempted to adjust the crotch seam of his hip hugger Levi's without being too obvious. Both of the creatures had a serious problem with liking evil Harry. In different ways, mind you, Sal would say it was more of a turn on while Kreacher admits he just likes evil overlords. (I guess that means working at the Black's house is the ideal job then, huh?)

But, we digress. It is important that we get back on track. Harry picked the locket up and dropped it into the bag with the diadem. He then inquired as to whether Mistress Bellatrix was receiving guests this evening. He had not seen her for a few days and wanted to know if she was doing well here at 12 Grimmauld Place.

Kreacher nodded and popped away to see if his mistress would like to receive the Nasty half-blood Potter and the other one who had come forward in time with him.

Bella was in a good mood and came down to the drawing room to chat with Harry and Salazar for a few minutes. She laughed delightedly when Harry told her that he was going around retrieving all of Voldemort's horcruxes and intended to force him to reabsorb the stupid things. The reason he was visiting with her was because he had seen a memory of Voldie giving her a cup that had once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. He explained that the cup had been made into a horcrux and he would very much like it if she would be so kind as to let him get his hands on it.

She tilted her head to the side and thought about it for a bit. "I do believe I have the cup in my vault at Gringotts. Shall I grant you access to it or would you like me to go with you and we can retrieve it together?"

Harry thought about it. "Are you comfortable with being seen in public? I think that with the destruction of the elder wand you are safe enough from Dumbledore now. Would you like a night out?"

She massaged her rippling stomach lightly and watched as a foot gently bumped against her fingers. "I think I would enjoy a bit of time away from the house. I am feeling well and am not so large yet that I am awkward."

Salazar had been taking lessons from Harry. "You look stunning. I don't remember a more radiant mother-to-be."

Bella just laughed. "Thank you, Salazar. I know you must have worked very hard to get to the point where flattery for a woman would roll off your tongue so easily."

His laughter at her quip soon had them all giggling. After they calmed down, Bella directed Kreacher to fetch her summer weight travelling cloak and her sensible dueling boots. Kreacher was soon back with the requested items and the three of them were soon wending their way to the Leaky Cauldron.

It was a rather short walk and the three of them were soon standing outside the Leaky Cauldron while pulling their shrunken robes out of their pockets. It was best not to walk around any of the alleys at night without a modicum of security.

Harry took the lead as they walked through the Leaky Cauldron. It was as dirty and comfortable as he remembered it ever being so just to vex Tom he whipped out his wand and yelled, "_scourgify_!" The spell was completely overpowered and it felt like a warm sandstorm blew past everyone in the pub. A few seconds later when the patrons opened their eyes they stared around in wonder.

While the patrons were still gaping Harry and his merry band of misfits did their diabolical laugh and exited through the courtyard in back. Salazar grabbed him and proceeded to snog him properly until Bella sent a stinging hex their way to get them moving again. Salazar sighed as he pressed his forehead against Harry's. "I cannot help it. I am a dark lord. I love being evil. It is so much fun to do random things like that rather than hurt anyone unduly."

Harry smirked. "I can hurt people too. I am sure that the three hags in the back corner lost some skin when the cleaning spell hit them. Probably none of them have had a bath since Gretel was forced to built the fire to roast Hansel.

Bellatrix giggled. "That so did not happen! Aunt Cassiopeia made that story up to get Narcissa and me to stop playing in the Black Forest every time we vacationed at our summer castle in Germany."

Harry pouted. "It did too happen. My mother left me several notebooks of research she and Severus Snape did one summer after they started at Hogwarts. They did really detailed notes. Snape even tracked down the hag who got shoved in the oven."

Salazar blinked a few times as he watched Harry pouting. He wondered if what they were speaking of had really happened.

Bella seemed determined to argue about it though. "Snape could not have tracked that old hag down. According to Aunt Cassie she was baked in the oven."

"I am telling you that Snape verified the authenticity of the story. He has pictures of her and the scar damage is visible. According to their notes, she managed to apparate out because she has a few wizards in her ancestry."

The two were about to settle their argument with wands when Salazar intervened. "Enough already. We have an agenda and we need to get on with it."

Both of them ducked their heads sheepishly. "Sorry." was mumbled and he nodded his acceptance.

The bank trip was not as quick as they would have liked. Hogul caught them trying to sneak in and informed Jareth and Sarah that they were trying at avoid their royal majesties. Of course one never tries to get away from a goblin; it just is not the done thing.

Sarah  
decided to accompany them to the vault because she wanted to catch up with Bellatrix on all the latest pregnancy news. How one can have a two hour discussion regarding a period of time that equals roughly three days was beyond the mentality of the males. They however, did not get the explanation, nor did they want one.

Harry decided since they were the captive audience, or was that amusement, of the grandparents that he might as well explain what they were trying to accomplish. He pulled out his little bag and showed Jareth the locket and the diadem. He then told him that they went down to Bellatrix's vault to collect the Cup of Hufflepuff.

It was a great deal of fun to watch Jareth examining the artifacts. He finally grinned as he set the diadem down. "We need to collect Mr. Tom Marvolo Riddle you think and things might work out well if he agrees to reabsorb these gross caricatures of immortality."

Salazar watched him closely. Jareth thinking was a scary thing. Normally he was such a smooth operator that no one knew he actually did a great deal of work to keep the Underground in optimal condition. He had to ask, "What do you have in mind?"

Jareth shrugged. "I was thinking it might be a good thing to get Tom to come over for a visit. Sort of like a supervised play date. We can all talk to each other and discuss this business of feeling the need to kill everyone who upsets him or disagrees with his policies."

"When do you plan to set up the meeting?" Harry asked. That was one nice thing about Harry, he rarely told others that their ideas were bad. However, he did try to approach the problems with the idea in mind that it might be a good thing to discuss probabilities and outcomes.

Jareth's pointy teeth flashed in what was supposed to be a smile. No one actually believed it though. "He should be here directly. I sent my best retrieval team over to his house to get him. I distinctly heard my wife say she wished that the goblins would come and take Tom Riddle away."

Sarah turned around from where she and Bellatrix were admiring a pamphlet from Blinken-n-Nod's Baby Boutique and inquired, "Husband, when did I say that?"

Jareth gave her a smarmy look. "I don't remember all the particulars, Honey. I might have even been sleeping and dreamed it. The fact is- I heard the magic words. Therefore, I did my duty to my Queen and Country. Or, Underground as the case may be."

She shook her head and turned back to the conversation that really held her interest.

It was difficult for the men to concentrate on what they were planning to do to Tom when all they could hear were excited squeals of, "Oh, isn't this just darling!" and, "I saw that one in the shop. It was not as advertised." The occasional, "Do you know anyone else who picked this one?"

Jareth's best retrieval squad is as good as he says they are. Of course Harry had to spoil every ones fun by saying, "ninja dude there looks like Professor Flitwick to me. Does he moonlight as an acquisition specialist for you to keep in shape, or is there more than one Flitwick?"

Flitwick pulled his hood off and mock glared at Harry. "How did you recognize me? Not to get raciest or anything but don't all of us goblins look alike to you wizards?"

Harry snorted in amusement. "I think I hear Uncle Vernon getting on his racist hobby horse."

Jareth gulped, "Uh, Vernon? As in Vernon Dursley?"

Harry nodded. "Yep, that will be the one."

Jareth looked over at Sarah, "Sarah, did you happen to notice if Vernon was suitably entertained when we left his house a few days ago?"

Sarah swiveled around and stared at Jareth with a horrified look on her face. "We did not leave the Dursley house a few days ago. It has been at least ten days since then. The last thing I remember was him following one of your magic crystals down the hall and into his bedroom. Since I did not like him or any of the décor, I left him to whatever he intended to do in that room."

Jareth turned to his acquisition team. "Can you guys stay here and make sure Tom does not get up and go anywhere until I have time to speak with him?" Then he smiled sweetly at his lady-queen and said, "I will just nip on over to Privet Drive and make sure the big man is doing alright."

Sarah flinched at the repulsive images 'big man' triggered. Shuddering delicately she mumbled, "How anyone could let themselves get in that shape is beyond me."

Harry turned to look at her, "But, that's the point is it not, Granny? He did not do that to himself, at least willingly. That whole house stinks of Dumbledore's rotten magic. How no one recognizes the fact that he is a dark lord, I shall never know."

"Hey, don't go dissing the dark lords. I am a dark lord."

Harry smirked at Salazar. "I am a dark lord; you are a pansy arsed Hufflepuff."

Salazar growled playfully. "Thank you. I know for a fact the Hufflepuff family has some pretty bad characters in their family."

Sarah whirled around, "Do tell!' I just knew that Amelia Bones was part demon or something."

Salazar laughed at her. "I must go with Harry and the old guy right now. Talk to you when we get back. TA!"


	23. Fixing more problems

Chapter 23: Fixing more messes

Before she could grab him, he seized the portkey that Harry made and the three men disappeared from the room. Sarah glared at the empty spot for a few seconds before calling for Hogul.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" He said, walking in the room while tucking himself back into his trousers.

Bellatrix gave him a scathing look before turning to Sarah. "You might think that thing is funny. I find him disgusting and there is no way I will ask him to bring me a bowl of Floren Fetsuce's Ice Cream. I will get it myself." She eyed the creature as he was rubbing his hands down the side of his trousers instead of washing them.

Sarah shook her head in disgust at him. "Hogul, if you ever answer my summons again while playing with yourself and not taking the time to clean your hands properly I shall personally tip you into the Bog of Eternal Stench."

His nasally voice could be heard all the way across the lobby. "Not the Bog!" Then before Sarah could catch him the sound of running feet echoed down one of the longer tunnels for several seconds before all was quiet again.

"So, Sarah, do you feel like a nice serving of tadpole ice cream, or shall we go for the peanut butter and road kill brickle? Bellatrix flexed her shoulders to loosen the tension and hummed to herself as she waited on Sarah to answer. "Maybe I should just skip the ice cream and pay a visit to the new restaurant that just opened on Vertical Way." She absently patted her tummy as the babies made her robe jerk and flutter with their exuberant movements.

Filius asked, "Is that the new eatery the _Severed Hand_?

"Yes, it is." Bella replied. One of the cooks trained at Black House and I wanted to visit and see if they have Black Death Soup on the menu."

Sarah shook her head. "Sorry, I don't have enough magic to eat that stuff. I am capable of the animagus transformation and a few low power spells, but I just can't risk eating bubonic plague germs."

Bella gave her a serious look. "You know, you are right. I should not risk my children by eating something they might have a serious reaction to. Thank you, Sarah; you are always just the best friend!" The violet eyed beauty gave her friend a death hug. A second later she wailed, "I wish the boys would get back. I really am hungry now." She sat down on Sarah's favorite chair and summoned Tom's comatose body for a foot stool.

Filius cheerfully began conjuring flowers and chocolates to distract her. He could be heard murmuring an aside to one of the other goblins, "Humans are not quite as well suited for child bearing as goblins are, but the principle of pregnancy hormones are the same."

The younger goblin, a Spaniard from Madrid who was in the London office to improve his English and maybe find a foreign bride was heard to respond, "Madre de Dios." While making the sign of the cross.

Sarah asked rather bemusedly, "I did not know that goblins followed the tenets of Christianity?"

Younger goblin just shrugged. "I did not actually specify which God I was referring to so to invoke his mother, well…"

"Right, it gives the old biddies something to fight about. Well done, Younger Goblin."

Bellatrix went back to obsessing over food. She resorted to asking Flitwick what types of food goblins ate when they are pregnant. Surprisingly, the guy who they all thought was a longely bachelor turned out to be a happily married man and the father of five. He settled into a conjured chair next to Sarah's throne which Bellatrix was still sitting in and began lecturing.

Explanations might have become a bit more complicated, but we shall never know. As it happened, the air shimmered (a sign of incoming portkey which Jareth had installed as a safety measure there in the bank several years ago.) The incoming party consisted of four persons: Jareth, Harry, Salazar, and Vernon.

Jareth was beyond relieved to find that Vernon had not died while watching the ball of chaos magic. It would seem that Vernon was one of those minds needed at the edge of the world (No, not so we could shove him off or feed him to the dragons).  
Vernon had the knack of imposing order on chaos. He was able to take pieces of wild magic and bind them to concepts. Or, it could be that he was simply so boring and unimaginative that chaos eventually whimpered a few times before lying down in defeat to die…

The party who went to retrieve him had been impressed to find him sitting quietly at the dining room table eating a can of tinned soup from the pot he heated it in while drinking red wine from the bottle. The baguette he had picked up from the bakery had been sliced into four rather large pieces instead of the several small pieces, but it had been sprinkled with garlic bread seasoning and a light coating of butter then toasted.

Ten days on and the house had been kept clean, the dishes done, and the lawn immaculate. He'd missed work one day because he forgot to set the alarm- that was it. Vernon knew what to do and did it. It helped that he had a bit of telepathic link with Petunia. He stopped worrying about her and Dudley once he figured out they were safe and were receiving medical treatemnet.

So here everyone was gathered together. Jareth directed one of the goblins to escort Vernon to the suite where Petunia and Dudley were staying while they continued to recover from their ordeal.

The goblin reported later to Jareth that there had been no problems. Vernon and Petunia had a tearful reunion as they both saw each other as they really were for the first time in some sixteen years. Vernon had even been moved to tears as he looked down on his son and saw the devastation.

Jareth bared his teeth slightly. "Did she tell him about the spell work we removed from her and the boy?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. When she told him about the ring and how the man had gifted her with the child Vernon thought was his he simply sat and listened until she was finished with her explanations. He then stood up and walked over to the chair the boy was lounging in and went down on his knees beside him. He thanked the boy for saving Petunia's life and asked him if it were OK for him to still call him son because he had raised him and loved him dearly. He did not care a whit that the boy was not of Dursley blood."

Jareth reflected on the message for a second then said, "Good job, Brickman! Take the rest of the day off and have a bit of fun hunting flarkrabs in the tunnels if you wish."

The goblin walked away jauntily mumbling, "I get to hunt flarkrabs. I get to hunt flarkrabs."

Harry and Salazar exchanged knowledge telepathically. Both of them asking, "What is a flarkrab?"

They both shrugged and started imagining what a flarkrab was. Harry finally spoke, "I know what it is."

Salazar slid his hand up through his hair and flicked the end like Daphne Greengrass does while trying to attract Miles Bletchley's attention. "Are you shure?" He even slurred the question just like their resident Valley Witch.

"Totally." was the response.

"Well?"

Harry calmly looked around at everyone listening. "It is the result of a dude with a speech impediment trying to speak pig latin."

Salazar quirked an eye brow. "Don't follow."

Harry huffed. "I hate this business of having to explain everything constantly. Flark is obviously mispronounced Clark and the rab if you switch it is bar. Hence the word Clark bar. Duh!" He had just finished the explanation, tilted his nose into the air, and crossed his arms in a show of superiority when Brickman, goblin extraordinaire, and all around good guy came racing into the room shrieking that he had found a whole nest of flarkrabs.

Harry pulled a page from the book of Hermione. "Right then, let's see the flarkrab."

The goblin pulled what appeared to be a cute little white bunny out of his hunting bag.

Salazar looked at it. "Looks like a cute little fluffy white bunny to me."

Harry looked at his grandfather and grinned. His eyes flickered over to Salazar then back to Jareth before mouthing, "Monty Python?"

"Yep."

He stepped forward and took the dead creature from Brickman's hand. "No, Salazar, I was completely wrong about the pig Latin explanation. This particular creature has pointy teeth, sharp claws, and it can rip your throat out. The goblin king a few hundred years back bred them to guard the tunnels from Dwarf invasions."

"I want to go hunt some." Salazar finally said, still staring at the creature. He had visions of gathering several of the things and making his husband a lush fur blanket to wrap up in. Or, maybe Harry could lounge on it- nude in front of the fire…

Harry caught the mental image and solemnly replied. "We need to watch the movie first so that you will know what you are up against, OK?"

Sarah and Jareth turned their backs on their favorite grandson and his mate just so said mate would not see them turning blue in the face trying to hold the laughter in. Harry was shaping up to make an excellent Goblin King. Maybe it was time for them to write their will just in case one was needed.

Eventually the distractions were all dealt with and Tom was revived. He was not in a good mood because he was still tied up and he was still being used as a foot stool by Bellatrix. Everyone could see the awareness of his situation deteriorate into a blind rage. He immediately began raging and cursing them while demanding that they set him free immediately.

Apparently Bella still had a bit of madness in her soul because she hauled back and kicked him on his scaly posterior to get his attention. Then when he turned blazing red eyes to her she sweetly snarled, "Shut the hell up and listen for five minutes. No one intends to hurt you and you have only been bound to keep you from doing anything stupid until after we have discussed the situation with you. Now, are you ready to behave like a sensible adult?"

He started to snarl, "When I get loose…"

She interrupted him. "When you get loose I plan to make you the god father of both my children, but only if you can stop acting like a delusional paranoid schizophrenic."

Harry watched the proceedings and sent the message to Salazar. "I don't know what she is going to do when she realizes that is not an act. He really is one rail short of a trolley line."

Jareth intervened. "Tom, I had you brought here because you need to get yourself under control. You are killing magicals and muggles without any restraint. You are acting like a rabid dog that needs put down."

The red eyed creature lying on the floor blinked lazily.

"Do you understand what we are trying to tell you?"

"No, you are not saying anything that concerns me."

Harry looked at him then looked at his grandfather. "Let us just do what we know needs done. Sal can do the reverse ritual on him and then we can take him down to the purifying chamber and see if we can clean him up any."

Snake man lost all the coloring in his scales as he watched Salazar move forward and begin removing familiar items from a bag. There was a cup, a diadem, a locket, and a ring. "Where did you find all that old junk?" He hissed.

Jareth answered him. We found it lying around in various places. Please do not think that we intend to destroy your horcruxes and they destroy you. We plan to reverse the rituals you have done on yourself and return you to physical form." Then he added, "and before you begin secretly rejoicing that you still have two horcruxes missing. Well, it did not work that way."

Tom wanted to laugh but the truth was he was too scared to do more than lie there on the cold stone floor and pray they were wrong. Chances were though that they were doing the reversal rituals correctly. They had done everything correctly so far.

Harry began to speak, "Tom Marvolo Riddle, we have brought you here today to reabsorb the six horcruxes you have made so far. Of those six horcruxes two of the containers for the soul shards have already been destroyed. The first of the containers was the diary with Tom Marvolo Riddle which we destroyed in 1993. The horcrux moved from the chamber of secrets and joined with the one that inhabited the diadem belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw. This is the largest soul shard of all the pieces you created. Do you wish to reabsorb this piece first and give it time to adjust, or would you like to start with the smallest piece which is the locket?"

Voldemort wanted to shriek that he wanted neither until they were needed to resurrect him again. Maybe if he did not answer…

Jareth looked down at him. "You have harmed those of my family. I call blood feud on you if you do not pick one or the other."

He firmly intended to leave the strongest piece until last just on the off chance he could escape and carry them off as he left. "I wish to absorb the smaller portion first. It should be the easiest to assimilate."

The goblin healers formed a ring around the tied up snake man and began to chant. As they did a force field shimmered into existence. Once the force field was up, Salazar stepped into the dome and set the locket right next to Tom without having it touch him. He used Parseltongue to hiss 'open' to the locket and when it did he dripped one large drop of basilisk venom onto each side of the locket. A horrible scream sounded and a black cloud floated up out of the ruined locket.

As everyone stood there watching, waiting, holding shields, and chanting to ward off evil the cloud of black particles recognized the magical signature of their greater part and moved to cover him like a blanket. One second the black stuff covered him and then you could see it sink down through layers of clothes and appeared to soak into his body like water into soil.

While Tom was staring in horrified fascination at his own skin Salazar broke open horcrux vessels two and three and watched them have the same effect. After the third black cloud had been absorbed into Voldemort's skin everyone paused for a second before the diadem was placed beside the other three vessels.

It only made sense to keep going with the work since the shields were up and holding. Everything was working exactly as it was supposed to. The only thing that happened differently from what Salazar told them to expect was once the sixth piece of his soul anchored into his soul, Voldemort arched his back and screamed. It was a primal scream…

The good folks hanging around at Gringotts decided to let him scream while they continued on with conducting business. Bellatrix demanded that King Jareth provide her with sustenance if he was going to make Harry and Salazar work all night instead of escorting her to an eatery. Everyone was happy with the buffet style dinner Dobby and Winky procured at Harry's behest. They simply apparated to all his regular food joints and picked up five times what he usually ordered. Goblin ale kept the party from getting too serious.

Jareth refused to let Tom out of his bindings after he finished screaming, but he did let Winky feed the bad wizard. For some strange reason she seemed fixated on feeding him buffalo wild wings, cream cheese stuffed jalapeños, and rotel tomatoes. She also insisted he needed to drink his water.

The party was not all fun and games though. It was decided that Flitwick would contact Lucius Malfoy and discuss Petunia's situation with him. She wanted to remain with Vernon, however the issue of Dudley would not be hers to make. Dudley was a Malfoy and would have to meet the Malfoy family. He was also a wizard with Veela heritage so training was mandatory.

It was a tired band of individuals who flooed back to Hogwarts in the wee hours of the morning. Flitwick bid the two exhausted love birds adieu and headed for his own quarters. Harry and Salazar took some of the pressure off Filius by agreeing to explain things to Draco. No one was really sure just how Draco was going to handle the concept of having a half-brother. Technically since Draco was the son of Lucius's wife, the inheritance should go to him. It could get awkward though if it was proven that Lucius and Petunia had a soul bond which had been interfered with.


	24. The beginning of the end

Chapter 24: The beginning of the end

After the folks returned from Gringotts things seemed to calm down a great deal. Flitwick, Harry, and Salazar agreed to speak with Draco together and answer any of his questions, but before they got past the pleasantries Lucius had appeared at the meeting and sat down with them to provide moral support to Draco.

Lucius explained to the boys exactly what had transpired all those years ago. He had loved the pretty squib sister of Lily Evans with an intensity that almost overcame the combined Imperio of Abraxis Malfoy and Albus Dumbledore. He had done all he could to save her life even as he tried to end his own, and would have done if it had not been for his young friend, Narcissa Black. Narcissa helped him anchor his Veela to this plane by providing him with a child to replace the love he lost. In return, Lucius had wed the beautiful Narcissa and gave her everything he could to make her happy.

Draco could not help but cry as his father admitted that he loved him more than anything else on this earth. There was also a bit of relief in the tears as he was assured that he would remain the scion of the Malfoy Family and Narcissa was still his beloved best friend. Sometime after the tears were dried Draco asked about Petunia and Dudley. He grinned as he recognized that the Veela part of his father was rather shame-faced regarding the fact that Petunia opted to stay with Vernon, but was open to visiting with the Malfoys to give her thanks for their help and kindness to her.

* * *

Harry, Salazar and Hermione did their tri-bond at Samhain. They could only theorize that the friendship she had formed with Harry and Ron at the beginning of her education had somehow conditioned her to accept the tri-marriage bond. That was not to say they did not have a few awkward moments, but even those moments were few because it is difficult to fault each other when thought sharing could so easily clear up any miscommunication.

The Potter-Black-Slytherin relationship was also helped along by Harry solving his quest. Magic had rewarded him for destroying the Elder Wand by letting him become human the second the sun began to set. He was further rewarded by being allowed to remain human until the sun was fully in the sky after the Peverall Ring had been destroyed. Once they knew the quest would end with the destruction of the Invisibility Cloak the three had sat down and had a serious discussion on when would be the best time to accomplish that task. Needless to say, they did not rush back to their chambers and annihilate it. A council of war was convened and strategy was discussed...

And then they were brought to the day when Harry couldn't help but shake with laughter as Dumbledore paced the room, slammed books around, and periodically stopped to check his candy dish only to find it crawling with maggots. Salazar wasn't faring much better at restraining himself. Only Hermione stood stoically beside the fireplace and maintained an impartial observation of the situation. Dumbledore probably would not have been so free with his temper had he known that he was being 'observed' by people bent on causing him serious psychological trauma…

Hermione was the one who hexed the candy dish! She really had taken to the role of Lady Black and hanging around women like Queen Sarah, Bellatrix, and Molly was not helping her curb her impulse control problem...

Earlier that day Dumbledore had tried to break into Harry's mind in order to find out what he had been doing in the girls' bathroom on the second floor. Never mind the fact that Hermione had been in there with him and they had various items of clothing in disarray…. Albus just knew that they were plotting on him and he was not about to let them do anything to jeopardize his standing with the Wizengamot, his position as Headmaster at Hogwarts, or his place in the International Confederation of Wizards. No, those two would have to be controlled…

And so while Dumbledore was trying to terrorize Harry into submission (which really was an abysmal effort considering Harry had been immunized by the family from Hell already…) Hermione had been waylaid by Fawkes and Sorting Hat. They had informed her of Dumbledore's latest bit of craziness so that she could rescue Harry before he was actually hurt.

Hermione had made her way down into Slytherin territory and knocked on their common room door. When Pansy Parkinson drifted out into the hall and asked what she needed, Hermione informed her that if she needed to speak to the new Slytherin boy who said he was Salazar Slytherin.

Pansy nodded to her and stuck her head back inside the door. "Hey, Sly, there's a mudblood here who says you owe her a good tongue lashing."

The young man came to the door and stared at Hermione perplexedly. "I owe you a good tongue lashing? Of what do you speak, Lady Black-Slytherin?"

Hermione gave the male Veela a beatific smile and a saucy wink before turning to Pansy. "Thank you, Pansy. I was wondering how to introduce the concept of oral sex."

Slytherin grinned at the pug-faced girl. "Ah! There be those women who do enjoy such things. Are you interested?"

Pansy sniffed delicately. "I should think not!"

Salazar's smile disappeared as he nodded. "Pity that. But, I understand. You assume your body is not perfect and you feel conflict sharing it with another."

As Pansy squawked indignantly as he offered his arm to Hermione. "Come then, my glorious paramour. Let us retire to a comfortable place where we may enjoy the company of each other to the fullest."

Hermione extended her hand and Sal took it and slid it under his arm. As they turned to walk away she couldn't help but add, "Thank you so much for all your help, Pansy. Please let me know when I may return you a favor."

The two of them had dodged around a corner and disappeared into one of the Founder's rooms where Hermione wasted no time in explaining to Salazar that Dumbledore had taken Harry 'into custody' and had placed him in solitary confinement until he chose to tell him why they had been in the bathroom.

Sal listened and then called for Fawkes.

The bird appeared in a flash of red flames. Its trilling was easily decipherable by its original owner.

Sal placed a hand on his tail and wrapped his other arm around Hermione. "Fawkes, we need to go check on Harry. You can do this can't you?"

The bird chirped an affirmative and as easily as walking through an open door, they were transported to Harry's prison.

Salazar looked around and giggled. Without thinking much more about it, he threw a hex at Harry that left him standing there chained to the wall, completely nude. After checking to make sure his lover would take it well, he turned to Hermione and said, "Shall we begin?"

Hermione Granger is a smart girl. She is also a very 'adept' one, and getting to do things to a beautiful man's body while someone else took care of her problems was immensely satisfying. There was also the fact that she felt it necessary to get even with Harry for blind folding her yesterday before leading her into Dumbledore's secret library… The three of them spent quite some time indulging their sexual appetites before they ceased their activities and returned to the Headmaster's office.

Their bond enabled them to share thoughts as well as emotions. As they observed Dumbledore they accepted the fact that he was cracking and it was time to neutralize him before he damaged more lives.

They followed as Dumbledore eventually stopped stomping around while fiddling with various gadgets and left the office. Salazar motioned for Harry and Hermione to stay back while he slipped into the room where Victor Vector stood to greet the Headmaster.

Harry and Hermione took off running down the hall to find Flitwick even before they heard Salazar mind-speaking to them. Vector had just been imperioed and given the order to track down Bellatrix.

* * *

After receiving the message from Flitwick, King Jareth stormed through Gringotts on his way to St. Mungo's. He had just received confirmation that Dumbledore was on the move. It had taken him five years of watching and waiting, but soon he would have enough proof that Albus Dumbledore was a sick old man bent on destroying the Wizarding world to have the man locked up in Azkaban where he could never harm anyone ever again.

Five years ago when they had started at Hogwarts, Harry and Neville had whispered fretfully to each other that they were scared of Dumbledore and were worried that he wanted to destroy all the pure bloods. Jareth had caught the conversation and it had sparked terror in his soul. Wizards were a part of the circle of magic and Old Blood was revered because it carried certain traces that connected with magic more easily than the first generation magic wielders did. There was a reason wizards felt themselves superior to the other magical species. It was because only a wizard who could tap into the ley lines could perform certain arcane rituals needed to keep the world balanced.

It had not taken much for Jareth to have the muggle security cameras installed in certain parts of St. Mungo's. A few healthy donations and a reasonable explanation of why he needed it done and the doctors were more than happy to keep an extra close watch on the pure blood faction that needed long term care.

Today was special because Victor Vector had been seen leaving Hogwarts with a rather vacant expression in his usually expressive eyes after meeting Dumbledore. Victor had eventually been identified as the extra person Arthur Weasley noted at his bedside during Christmas of 1995. He had been ordered to go to St. Mungo's to intercept Bellatrix as she attended her obstetrics appointment.


	25. When the bullet leaves the gun

Chapter 25: When the bullet leaves the gun

* * *

It had taken a lot of planning on Jareth's part to get this meeting set up. He was not sure even now if he had enough to get a conviction, but he damn sure was going to try before any more damage was done. The meeting was a who's who of nightmares:

Tom Marvolo Riddle- child abandonment, child abuse, child neglect…

Lucius Malfoy- Interference of a Veela soul bond, Imperious, attempted murder of soul mate

Arthur Weasley- Attempted rape and murder of soul mate,

Kingsley Shakelbolt et al… misrepresentation of organization for personal gain

Harry James Potter- child abandonment, child abuse, child neglect, attempted murder, interference of a Veela soul bond and various other crimes as mentioned.

Victor Vector- use of an unforgiveable, abuse of trust, attempted implication of conspiracy to commit murder

Sarah Williams aka Queen Sarah of the Goblins was also present as the representative voice for squibs and muggleborns.

They had managed to meet some two hours prior to having the goblins summon Dumbledore to the Gringotts. He had no idea he was being led before the enclave to discuss his intentions. Victor Vector had been apprehended as usual and debriefed, only this time he was not sent on his merry way. They kept track of whom all Dumbledore sent him to neutralize. It was time to act on the information.

To keep from alerting Dumbledore that something important was going on, Jareth had a teller show him into the briefing room where he was drugged with veritiserum tea and manually restrained before the others entered. He did not act too terribly surprised to see the adults, but he did look twice at Harry who was back in human form during the day.

"Harry, lad, it is good to see you back in human form. When did this happen? I had not heard about it."

Harry shrugged. "Not really sure. I was sleeping when I changed back. I had a bit of a headache so I went to have a lie down and when I woke up I was back in human form and the sun was shining through the window."

"Splendid! We shall have to get together and have a chat about your experiences when we get back to Hogwarts. I should like to know what your task set by magic was."

Harry just shrugged and settled in the seat beside his grandmother.

Sarah leaned forward, "Excuse me, Dumbledore, but the reason you were asked to come to Gringotts was to answer a few questions."

Albus smiled benevolently at her, eyes twinkling merrily. "Regarding?"

She smiled just as sweetly. "We can start with discussing what you intended to accomplish when you left a fifteen-months-old baby on a door step on a cold night with only a thin blanket, no warming charms, no animal repelling charms, no notice me not charms, and the child did not have a sleeping charm or a proximity ward on him."

"I assume you are referring to young Harry here? Everything turned out fine."

She maintained, "I beg to differ. Any number of accidents could have befallen Harry. Why did you just not knock on the door and inform the family of their terrible loss in person." You left a stupid letter tucked into the side of the basket and then you left."

"I beg your pardon! I did not just leave. I erected blood wards to protect young Harry and his family."

Sarah refused to let it go. "The blood wards did not set because you threw sevearl charms into the mix. Because of your hatred charms Petunia and Vernon Dursley despised Harry and treated him badly up to the time they both had the spell work on them shattered. You and that idiot Abraxis Malfoy almost killed Petunia and Dudley before they were removed from the house and brought to the Gringotts infirmary to be treated for life threatening issues.

Jareth glared at Dumbledore. "Why have you been doing such evil all these years? You have been killing off entire families and stealing their money, but it isn't doing you any good."

"I am saving the old pureblood families from the mudbloods."

Sarah looked at him, "You have not been doing anything of the sort. You are only making a bad situation worse by killing everyone in an even more random fashion than Tom did."

"How so?" Dumbledore figured he would play the educated part and make her feel stupid.

Jareth snickered. "Magic, Dumbledore, does not like to be told what to do. When you go through and kill an old family Magic just goes though and revives squib lines or picks a new family. The only problem is there really are rituals which can only be performed by those who have an ancestor considered Old Blood because blood markers develop over several generations."

Dumbledore had not known that. He had not seen it written in any of the books he read and wondered how King Jareth knew. "I do not believe I have ever encountered that bit of knowledge before." He considered the idea while searching his pockets for lemon drops. "I do not believe I am familiar with how Magic picks the new family either?"

Jareth glared at him. "If you are asking is there a way to track them so that you can terminate them before they are of Hogwarts age let me assure you that your killing days are done. As for Magic, there are several reasons that a family with little or no magic will suddenly find themselves with a magical child. What they should be made to understand is that the child does not belong to them. Magic only lets a child be born to non-magical parents if the parents had accidentally lost their child already and did not know it."

Albus stroked his beard with trembling hands. "How are these children formed?" He had a sinking feeling that he knew that answer. Years ago, just before the devastation caused by World War ll, Gellert told him about a dream he had had. A dream that they had created a child and magic told Gellert to perform the soul-search bond to find their child and bring it into the magical community because it's surrogate needed their help.

Sarah watched the old man and read his thoughts as easily as she read children's books to the babies living in the Labyrinth. "What you refer to as your original muggle-born child is no such thing. The magically adept child is created when two magic wielders of the same sex combine their magic to create new life. They do not carry the child, but they do have nine months to find the child and bring it into the magic family circle."

His hand clenched in an effort to still the shaking. "Nine months? How do you figure that? I have heard women speak of not knowing of the child until they miss their cycle?"

It was time to rearrange the old goat's sandbox. "Take Ms. Granger here, she is the daughter of John and Joan Granger in the muggle world. Here in the magical world she is the daughter of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Had Black and Lupin been trained in magic properly they would have known that when they mated according to the werewolf laws, they created a child whom they were supposed to go forth and find. But, they did not know to look. It was only providence that the Muggles accepted the child."

"Tell me about some of the others."

Jareth was blunt, "Why? So you can kill them?"

"No. I need to understand."

Sarah spoke. "I could identify one other without the aid of paternity potions. He is a 6th Year Gryffindor whose name is Dean Thomas. One of his fathers is Auror Kingsley Shakelbolt."

Harry was quite irritated to learn that fact. He wanted to scream in anger actually. That piece of knowledge just invalidated the whole hypothesis for Blaise, Dean, and Seamus' work regarding the ability of a female to sense a magical male's blood status strength and catalogue it as an attractive physical attribute.

Sarah must have felt his emotions because she turned to face him and shook her head lightly.

Harry was not happy with the situation, but he honored his grandmother's request to hold his silence. As he thought though he reasoned that the whole theory was invalid because of the information just given. There was no such thing as a mudblood.

Albus' eyes flashed. "Kingsley is married to a witch. They have a child."

Sarah glared right back. "And everyone knows that it does not matter how many people you have sex, the only person you can impregnate is your wife."

Albus flinched.

Jareth had stopped trying to be nice to Albus some time ago. "How freaking stupid do you think we are?" He mimicked the other's tone perfectly. "Kingsley is married to a witch. They have a child."

"Yes, that was rather a silly argument to make."

Jareth's smile could not be construed as benevolent under any conditions. "You said it."

Sarah rose from her position at the table. "It has been a very thought provoking conversation, gentlemen. I shall retire to my rooms and consider the facts as I understand them." She bowed first to Jareth then nodded to Dumbledore. "Mr. Potter, would you care to escort me back to Gringotts? I do believe I am feeling a bit faint."

Harry quickly moved around the chairs that he and Jareth had scooted out and abandoned when the Queen rose. He presented his arm to her and after bidding the others good day left with her.

Jareth looked around the room at the men standing and then back to the old man still sitting comfortably in his chair. "You were a Knight of the Realm at one point were you not, Mr. Dumbledore?" he asked.

Albus nodded an affirmative before adding. "I still am."

Lucius took up the line of questioning. "At what age is a knight allowed to stop following the Laws of Chivalry? As you know my father passed away from Dragon Pox some years ago. He was a Knight of the Realm who upheld his duties until the end." Then he added, "With the exception of helping you to almost kill me and my soul mate."

Albus lazily conjured himself a cup of tea and some biscuits and proceeded to have a light snack. "I still follow the Code."

"You deliberately disrespected my Queen by not standing in her presence when she stood?" Jareth's voice was completely devoid of emotion. "is there any particular reason why?"

"It's very simple really. I have known Sarah Williams all her life. She is descended from the Potter line. She might be the intellectual equal of the likes of Lily Marie Evans and Hermione Jane Granger, but the fact remains that none of the three are from Ancient or Noble houses and they do not deserve to be served by a royal knight."

Arthur Weasley blinked a few times. "I thought we had already covered this topic. "The Evans sisters were recognized as magical offspring of House Prewitt. The blood ritual was performed last week at Gringotts where Ms. Petunia and her son, Dudley were taken for emergency medical treatment." He watched the old man's eyes flicker from him to Jareth and back.

Arthur continued, "Lord Potter also requested the blood test to make sure there were no other anomalies with the Dursley family. His mother, Lily was a full blood sister to Petunia. His father, James is a son of House Potter, and can trace his lineage back to Hecate, the first magic user. He has the same blood markers as Sarah Williams. She is a Potter."

Albus just shrugged and bit into a lemon crème biscuit. "Whatever."

Tom Riddle had to ask, "So you are also discounting the Queen's claim that Miss Hermione Jane Granger is the daughter of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin according to the Laws of Magic?"

"I heard the claim made that Ms. Granger is a 'Child of Magic' in addition to being a magical child. I just doubt the veracity of the claim and until further proof is provided Ms. Granger will not be treated as a lady by me."

Jareth stood and slapped both of his hands down flat on the table, "I find you an insufferable bore, sir and refuse to sit at the same table as you ever again. I further state that you are a thief, a liar, a rapist, and a murderer." He took another breath and added, "In addition to being an Oath Breaker. You, Sir, are the scum of the earth.

The old man's eyes flashed with anger. The twinkle long since gone. "You go too far, Goblin King. Just because you walk among humans and have a human wife, it does not give you the right to scorn your betters."

The Goblin King threw back his head and laughed. "My betters? There are those at the table who are my equal. However, Magic does not discriminate, or dictate which species is better. Only a few humans make that mistake."

Albus shifted and huffed before sitting back in his seat. "If you are the Court of Peers requested by Magic to judge me, get on with it."

Tom Marvolo Riddle stood and spoke the ritual words that Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore hoped never to hear. "Magic, as the Supreme Being from whom all creatures receive the gift of life, some more blessed than others, we request that you grant us petition as A Court of Peers to establish justice and demand restitution on behalf of any victims who were wronged by the magical being, Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore, while refusing to acknowledge or fulfill his obligations to Church and State after taking the Holy Vows of Knighthood."

An ancient house elf appeared in the room, carrying a book and an ink well. The elf stood and gazed solemnly around the table before moving to the chair Kingsley stood and pulled out for him. "You have summoned a representative of Magic to hear and assist in judgment. Do you agree to abide by the terms Magic sets?"

One at a time, each man agreed. Each was required to raise their wand hand and state their name before repeating, "I , name, agree to forfeit my magic if I do not uphold the honor of Magic after summoning her presence to judge and render retribution."

Albus was fairly caught in his own web. He had not expected anyone to know the ritual words for summoning Magical justice. He figured that if he kept his mouth shut from this point on, he might be able to get out to the quandary he found himself in.

The elf spoke to Jareth first. "You have a grievance with this wizard. Please state your case."

Jareth chose to go through the Code of Chivalry one point at a time. "As we know from studying History, the Code of Chivalry came into being over a thousand years ago and was fine tuned until we recognize all the salient points. For the most part we no longer send our sons off to the Manor at the age of seven where he is given the rank of Page and begins training as a knight on how to use weapons and have manners beaten into him. He no longer attains the rank of Squire at fifteen and is given the duties of assisting the knight and practicing weapons with him. Nor does the boy eventually give up the title of Squire to become a Knight who has the Code of Chivalry so ingrained in his being that it is impossible to separate man from duty by the time he swears allegiance to his lord."

He took a sip of water from a glass that magically appeared and continued. "Advances in technology have eased the strain of living here in the British Isles and some three hundred years ago the governing educational body at Hogwarts deemed it possible for a child to stay at home with their parents until they reached the age of eleven since eleven is when the magical core starts to stabilize. We kept the magically significant number fifteen and deemed it a good place to seriously sort the children according to their talents and so we established O.W.L.s, or the Ordinary Wizarding Levels. We then established that two years later would be a very good time to further distinguish what the children should concentrate on and created the NEWTs, or the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests."

He took a moment to pause and gather his thoughts before continuing. "We adjusted the system to fit the changing of the times. However, we did not abolish the system. We actually improved it by including the females of the population. Whereas in Feudal times females were strictly for breeding purposes and farm labor, modern wizards recognize the female of the species as academically equal although they are physically inferior more often than not."

Jareth drank some more water. "It is that issue which is the crux of our disagreement today. The Code of Chivalry emphasized several points. 1. Bravery in battle, 2. Defend the Church, 3. Fight fairly, 4. Treat women of noble birth in a courteous manner, 5. Keep promises. We cannot determine intent with what little we know about Mr. Dumbledore, but we do charge him with breaking all five of these tenets willfully and knowingly while in the pursuit of what he describes as 'the Greater Good'. Let it also be stated for the record that at no time has Mr. Dumbledore ever explained thoroughly, concisely, or even vaguely, what that greater good is for which he tirelessly strives."

Albus simply could not remain quiet. "I disagree. The Greater Good is simply the big picture of what is in the best interests of the Wizarding world."

Kingsley raised his hand in request of recognition. After receiving a nod from the elf he spoke, "I have been a member of the Order of the Phoenix for several years. Our mission statement was to identify and neutralize those who would subvert the will of others for their own gain. I joined because I was frustrated with the way the British Magical Law Enforcement Department refused to uphold the laws of our government. Over the course of the years I have heard Albus explain that certain actions were for the Greater Good. At no point did he ever explain what the greater good was. With every new fact I have been learning over the last several weeks I have come to the conclusion that the reason Albus will not give a definitive answer of what the greater good is is because he does not want to admit his real definition of 'greater good' is what is best for Albus Dumbledore."

He glanced around the room and smiled rather sadly before adding, "I feel like a complete fool. I wasted my time and energy to help a self-serving old fool. And when I go home tonight I am going to have to explain to Mrs. Shakelbolt that it is possible that I am the even bigger fool for following him."

Then his head went down on the table and his big shoulders shook as he sobbed out his grief. "How am I going to explain to a young man who is already sixteen years old that because I was ignorant I did not know about him?" He raised his head and stared at Dumbledore, grief etched clearly for everyone to see. "How can you sleep at night after all the atrocities you have visited on people who respected and trusted you?"

Albus began, "My dear boy."

Kingsley grimaced as he tried to fight back a feral growl. "Don't call me your dear boy ever again. I no longer name you as friend. You lost that right years ago, I just did not realize it." He turned to the elf and said, "I vote to give him the maximum sentence authorized for the crimes he committed. He has caused immeasurable damage to our world by manipulating information and using people for personal gain."

Albus smirked. "What damage have I done? I have sat here and listened to everyone accuse me of manipulation, withholding information, and destroying families." He pulled his glasses off and glared at the men gathered at the table with glowing eyes. "Prove I did what you are accusing me of, or stand down and let me walk out of here."

Jareth calmly produced a stack of papers a foot tall. "Let the record show that Albus blah blah Dumbledore has requested the Court of Peers provide evidence that he intended harm to the Wizarding world. These documents do just that. For the last five years I have had surveillance on Dumbledore twenty-four hours a day because Lord Potter and Lord Longbottom recognized the threat he posed for what it was and the Goblins began taking steps to neutralize him. Along with neutralizing him as best we could for the last five years, we also compiled lists of grievences against him and verified them."

Everyone at the table turned surprised eyes to him and blinked. The old elf broke the silence by asking, "Please explain. You just informed the council that two eleven-years-old boys sussed out Dumbledore's plan and set you on the path to correcting his wrong-doing.

"Harry and Neville spoke to each other the first night they spent at Hogwarts as First years and staggered upon the conclusion that Dumbledore's real aim was to destroy all the Old Bloods. Once we adults verified that assumption we could do no less than our best to stop him. Dumbledore's whole life had been compiled in this document as completely as we could make it. There are probably other sins which could be laid at his door, but we do not know where to look for them or who to ask."

The elf waved its hand over the documents and muttered a few words in house elf language. It watched the paper it had carried into the room as it filled with writing. Everyone held their breath as the elf's demeanor changed from calm to disgusted, and finally to angry enough to kill.

He snapped his fingers and several copies of both Jareth's document and the Magic document appeared at the table. The elf stood and glared at Dumbledore as he spoke. "Each magical race who wants a copy of Albus Dumbledore's activities shall come forth and have one. Albus Dumbledore's complete life history shall be printed in at least one British newspaper and one international paper in increments until the whole story has been told. For the damage done to the Potter Family, King Jareth shall set retribution, for damages to the world at large the Wizengamot shall set damages."

He stood and the others rose with him. Everyone exchanged bows and then the elf was gone, leaving only Dumbledore sitting there with a look of resignation on his face.

He finally stood and held out his arms. "Would you like to bind my magic so that I do not attempt escape?"

Malfoy broke the news to him. "No, that isn't necessary. Salazar and Fawkes had a long talk the other day after which it seems Sal and Harry spent quite a bit of energy helping him overcome some enchantments that had been placed on him."

Albus cocked his head inquiringly, "Do tell?

Lucius Malfoy smiled beatifically at him. "What I was alluding to was the fact that the bond you forced on Fawkes has been nullified and he is back to serving and protecting Hogwarts instead of a diabolical, barmy old coot."

With the Elder wand destroyed and Fawkes out of his sphere of influence, Albus Dumbledore admitted he was in a tight corner. He figured that he would be able to get out of the mess if he held on long enough though. That was one thing about having lived so long- there was always the chance he knew something that would see his way clear of the whole mess.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was escorted to the Ministry of Magic by Tom Riddle, Lucius Malfoy, Kingsley Shakelbolt, Arthur Weasley, and King Jareth. It was a pity that no one realized that it was not a sanctioned visit by the Wizengamot. Especially since he spent almost a week there in the brain tank as the collection of brains analyzed everything he had ever said and done.

At the end of the week he was taken to the room where the Veil was. Jareth and Arthur smirked at each other as Albus walked fearlessly into it. Malfoy and Shakelbolt did not understand what the others were laughing about so they decided to ask.

Lucius arched a perfect brow and said, "Please let us in on why you are so amused."

Jareth showed pointy teeth as he smirked. "Sarah has been visiting London with Lady Slytherin-Potter and some others. They stopped at a muggle bookstore and had a quick stop in the romance section. After reading a novel by an author named Jude Deveraux , Sarah redid one of the oubliettes. Dumbledore will find himself stuck in a time loop where he will be forced to watch television while eating candy, or if he ever wants to leave there he will have to accomplish ten tasks." He grinned and added, "In no particular order. But, all ten will have to be completed before he can escape the oubliette."

Arthur smiled. "They are wonderful tasks, too!"

Shack bit. "Please list the tasks for me."

Jareth sniffed delicately before posturing. "Task number one is to completely eat at least one sample of every edible item in the Weasley Wizarding Weezes snack case on whatever day he decides to begin his redemption training."

Arthur grinned. "I thought of that one. We also have monitoring charms that let the boys know to restock the display before he arrives at the shop."

"What is number two?" The big black auror was trying to contain his mirth.

Arthur blurted out, "Molly thought of number two."

"Task number two is to drive cross country across Australia with three teenage sons and a crack-whore while wearing a magic inhibitor. Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle want the honors and are currently in negotiations with William, Charles, and Percy Weasley for the honors of sons. Several of the ladies of the Wizengamot want the female part…so far Dolores is the early favorite."

Lucius blinked. "Number three please?"

Kingsley grinned. "Four weeks boot camp with troubled teens. We de-age him, put the magic inhibitor on and send him along."

Lucius got the drift of it. "Number four: how about we let him go shopping with Narcissa?" Then he noticed the look on Jareth's face and amended, "Or, we could send him out with Queen Sarah so she can help him shop for his new children."

Arthur politely inquired, "How is Bellatrix doing since she returned? With Molly just now being able to leave the Underground we have not been keeping up with what is happening."

Surprisingly, it was Tom who interrupted. "I had tea with her yesterday. She is doing extremely well. She and Rudolphus are discussing the blessed event with the idea in mind that once the children are here he will do a filial blood adoption on them and raise them according to the tenets of House of LeStrange."

Kingsley flinched. "I am not overly comfortable with that idea. The House of LeStrange is known for their instability and dark tendencies."

Tom grinned. "Kingsley, you are behind the times, mate. You need to go on up to Hogwarts and ask that pretty witch who teaches Astronomy to take you down to the Chamber of Secrets and walk you through the purifying rituals. Those boys really have done some wonderful things already for the Wizarding world, but the ritual they brought forward to clean black magic residue off a person's soul is incredibly liberating."

Kingsley nodded. "I heard something about that in Auror Briefing this morning. I haven't seen Amelia that excited since she accidentally on purpose kicked Minister Fudge down a flight of stairs. I think I'd like to know a bit more about the procedures involved before I go up to Scotland though."

Lucius huffed. "If we care to stay focused!"

Once he had everyone's attention again he stated, "we are on number five." No one made mention of the fact that the reason he was being slightly annoyed was because it was he who broke Fudge's fall and saved the man from serious injury. (Amelia still had not forgiven Lucius for that).

Kingsley grinned. "Sorry. How about we chain him to one of the poles at the Bloody Rose and force him to dance for the hags?"

Lucius and Tom smirked at each other before adding, "How about we glamour him to look like a fourteen year old boy while leaving him in his 150 plus-years-old body to evade their gropes and pinches for the whole weekend."

Tom was the one who finally asked the all important question. "What happens to Dumbledore once he is released from your oubliette? Is he finished with paying for his crimes against humanity and magic?"

Jareth bared his pointy teeth in a smirk that had Little Malfoy doing the shrinking thingy. "Oh, no! The oubliette is only my justice for engineering the death of my son and his wife, endangering my grandson, insulting my Queen, insulting my grandson's bond-mates, and all the other slights and perceived endangerments with his asinine games. I fully intend to bring him before the Wizengamot and recommend Azkaban when he gets finished with my 'training sessions'. I might even ask that that they put him in a sterile white room with only a viewing screen and projection crystals that features various broom closets around Hogwarts where students go to dance the vertical tango."

Lucius flinched. "That is almost enough to make me feel bad for him. Malfoys do not 'feel bad' for others though." Then he snickered as he said, "though it would be funny to put him in a cell with Molly, Petunia, and Bellatrix and then turn on the Wizarding Broadcast System. It sure would be fun to watch the ladies work through some of their issues with him."

No one laughed at that remark. Kingsley stated with absolute certainty though, "Dumbledore will face the Wizengamot for violating the code of Chivalry regarding Bella. He will also face trial regarding Molly. He can argue that Molly is not noble and therefore he does not owe her anything, but some of the books that Salazar and Harry have pulled out of his secret stash and compared to the ones stored in their vault beg to differ."

Salazar intends to file a motion citing Dumbledore for suppressing knowledge that he should have been imparting to the general Wizarding public. Once that trial opens Harry and Salazar intend to charge him with every other crime they can think of. If they cannot get him convicted to Azkaban for the damage he has done already, they plan to build a case against him for attempting to destroy magical Britain by eliminating all the purebloods." Jareth stated.

Kingsley knew a fair bit about the law, being the lead auror demanded such knowledge. "What evidence do you have to make such a confident statement?"

"I thought you knew everything," Jareth stated. "Did you forget about the old elf making copies of the charges levied by the Goblin Nation against Dumbledore? If you forgot, here's the short version. When Harry and Neville started school back in September of 1991 they had a conversation that aroused my curiosity. Harry asked the rhetorical statement, 'Is he trying to destroy all the purebloods?' The question intrigued me to the point where I have had Dumbledore monitored ever since. I have had my goblins research him, compile his life history, and neutralize him at every turn the opportunity presented itself."

"Is it possible for Amelia, myself, and a select few others to gain access to the documents you have compiled?"

Lucius glared at Kingsley. "I had better be one of those select few."

Tom shook his head at their antics. "Enough silliness, boys! All you have to do to acquire a copy of the manuscript is go to Gringotts and tap the manuscript on display using the usual copying charm."

He then turned to Jareth and asked, "Your Majesty, what else can we expect from the goblin nation?"

"As part of the case, if we do not get a good response to people requesting the manuscript and reading it, we intend to leak information regarding Dumbledore's systematic suppression and decimation of the Laws of Magic as set forth at the Beginning. We have in our possession texts that state the Laws of Chivalry. The texts are clear on how they are to be applied to the various magical and mundane species."

Arthur asked, "How is proving he violated the Laws of Chivalry going to help anyone?"

Jareth rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Arthur, you have lived in the Underground for the last two months. Did you do anything besides work all day at the Ministry and chase Molly around the house most of the night?"

"NO. Was I supposed to?"

The absolute lack of shame in Arthur's demeanor set everyone off laughing. Jareth finally stopped snickering long enough to attempt explaining, " Molly qualifies as a minor noble in her own right because she gave birth to seven children who all possessed magical gifts. For a body to become a Knight of the Realm, which Dumbledore has, they had to swear their allegiance to the Crown and to uphold the codes of conduct."

Arthur blinked. "OK. So, Dumbledore not only did not uphold the Laws of Chivalry, he also violated his oath as Headmaster of Hogwarts to uphold the educational standards by neglecting to teach necessary information."

* * *

A/N: I have one more chapter to add here. If anyone has questions regarding the story now is the time to ask.


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